#it was a small doodle and rendering wasn’t planned
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Day 11: Intruloceit (pt 2)
@tsshipmonth2020
The sequel y’all were waiting for! (@hoppe-ideas)
Day 11: ‘Choose your own adventure’ day! I chose to continue from Day 9, since I couldn’t very well leave it there.
Content warning: allusions to abuse, Remus being Remus (need I elaborate?), implied past panic attack, mention of bipolar disorder, and of course, Janus’ crippling insecurities. Angst with a happy ending.
Word count: 4k
*READ DAY 9 FIRST*
Blue: What time are you available?
Green: What is this, a doctor’s office? I’m free after lunch
Blue: I was merely tr
Green: I know, I know. I’m just teasing you. It’s endearing, my little mocking-nerd. Bring your textbook, I’ll meet you in the cafeteria. It’s octopus learning time!
Blue: I will never understand you.
Green: Good
He drew a crude rendering of the devil emoji, then a heart, and the conversation ended as quickly as it began.
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Green: What would happen if you injected coca cola into your bloodstream
Blue: No.
Green: It’s just a question!
Blue: I’m assuming you would die.
Green: Damn. Can we try anyways?
Blue: No!
Green: C’mon, for science?
Blue: NO! Why did this question even arise?!
Janus hid a small chuckle, before immediately slapping a hand over his mouth. Even if the writing was as much on his arm as it was theirs, it still felt wrong to read it. Felt wrong to admit that he was starting to enjoy their shenanigans.
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Green: Hey
Blue: Hello, my dear. What is so important that you couldn’t text me?
Green: my mom broke my phone and I’m having an attack
Janus sat straight up, his calligraphy pen clattering to the floor, effectively ruining the large swooping letters he was working on with a splattered gold streak. This was the first message the two had shared that wasn’t either Blue’s notes about homework or Green’s odd creative ideas, or cheesy conversations between the two that Janus tended not to read. It felt like intruding on someone’s life. He hadn’t learned their names yet, and while they always stuck to the same color scheme, he knew at this point he’d be able to distinguish their handwriting with no hesitation. It was his version of hearing their voices, and he’d started growing attached to them. He turned his full attention to the conversation on the back of his arm, feeling a surge of worry.
Blue: I’m on my way, be at the curb in ten minutes?
Green: thanks
Blue: Remember those breathing exercises. Try to stay calm.
Green: please hurry
Blue: I’m driving as fast as I can, love.
The messages ended there, and Janus didn’t sleep that night.
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Blue: Happy birthday, Remus. I hope you have an amazing day.
Remus: Are we still good to go for tonight?
Blue: Of course. I had Roman and Patton help plan most of the date, so I hope you enjoy it.
Remus: Logan, if it’s with you, I will~
Logan: You’re a sap.
Remus: And you love it
Logan: Guilty.
Never had Janus felt so alone. It was one thing to have anonymous messages scribbled on your arm, little doodles and good luck wishes, but to know their names? That brought on a whole new round of tears that he hated himself for. Remus and Logan. The names of his so-called soulmates, the labels he could finally put to the personalities. As much as he hated to admit it, waking up had become a whole lot easier since they’d started appearing on his skin. It was something little to look forward to.
It also hurt, just a little bit more. Before he was eighteen, he’d been able to imagine his situation like his parent’s, with a soulmate who would end up hating and hurting him, and it was easy to decide to never communicate when the time arrived. And even if they seemed like genuinely good people, every time he lifted a pen to respond, to announce his presence, he stopped himself, as his father’s words rang through his head.
Why would anyone want you, Janus?
You’re a mistake, and they’ll see that instantly.
Honestly, what good do you even have to offer a soulmate?
He didn’t want them to be true, but it wasn’t like anyone had ever told him differently. His mother avoided his eyes and was silent, his peers treated him like a disease, so those words were the ones he started to believe. So he capped the pen, pulled his sleeve down, and ignored the small feather light tickles as they spread across his arms.
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Of course, it wasn’t avoidable forever.
It was writing on skin, did he think that was something he would never do accidentally? Was he really that stupid? They were going to be so pissed when they found out how long he’d been snooping on their conversations. They’d hate him. They’d never be open to the idea that he was somehow meant to be in their lives. He was done. He was such an idiot.
These were the thoughts raging through his mind as he looked down over himself in shock, spilled amber ink shimmering on his skin. It was an accident; an opening of an ink pod combined with over enthusiastic dancing to the Chicago soundtrack, leading to a faltering concentration and skin covered in staining gold. He’d been sitting cross legged on his chair when the cartridge exploded, and he’d bounded to his bathroom to try and wash it off, but it had only been partially successful. There was no doubt in his mind that they would see it. It had covered a good majority of today’s messages on his arms, smeared across his shins from hurriedly trying to wipe it away, and speckled across his face like the world’s most unfortunate freckles.
He dropped back into his chair, his music now turned off, and laid his head on the cool wood of his desk. The ticking on his clock was the only sound in the room and he counted each one, mentally marking the minutes as they passed by. Waiting. Five minutes of silent fear had passed before a new anxiety began to rise in him. What if they were his soulmates, but he wasn’t theirs? He’d heard of it happening, ever so rarely, that soulmarks weren’t reciprocated. If that was true for him, and he was starting to become sure it was, they wouldn’t see the ink. They never would. He would be forced to live the rest of his life on the outside, reading their life on his skin but never able to take part. Somehow that seemed a lot worse now that it wasn’t his choice.
Just as he was starting to spiral, a familiar tickle on his arm snapped him back to the present. His head jerked up, hair falling into his heterochromatic eyes as he followed the dark blue script, starting just under the largest golden spill.
Hello?
And how should he respond to that? He couldn’t think of a fun one liner, a sassy quip, to introduce himself. For the first time in his life, lying wasn’t an option, and he hated that. He grabbed the first pen he could grab, a black ballpoint, with shaking fingers.
Hi. Well, that was lame.
You’re our soulmate. It was less of a question, more of a statement. Janus took a deep breath, bringing the pen down again.
Yes.
I’m sorry. What he was apologizing for, he couldn’t quite put a finger on. But it felt right. Apologizing was simply second nature to him.
Whatever for?
He didn’t know how to answer that time, so he did what he always did best, and watched. Waited again, hoping that Blue (Logan, he remembered vaguely), would just drop the subject. This was the most conversation he’d had with someone in a while.
My name’s Remus. The other dork is Logan.
The green ink appeared under the blue, and Janus’ heart dropped painfully in his chest. As if he didn’t already know their names. It’s not as if he could say that, though.
You seem kinda shy. It’s cute
Let them speak, Remus.
Both of them went silent, offering time to allow Janus to write. But he didn’t know what to say, how to explain…
So he didn’t. He yanked down the sleeves of his pajama top, pulling the edges over his hands to hide the now dried golden ink, and collapsed onto his bed, dooming himself to another night of restless sleep.
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If Janus had the choice, he wouldn’t have gone to school the next day. He would have laid curled up under his blanket, struggling to tune out the sound of his parents arguing, letting the world pass him by like an old camera reel. Janus didn’t have the choice though, not when he remembered it was nearing the end of the year and exam season was drawing closer, and then the bickering downstairs became motivation. Good grades would equal an out-of-state college, which would mean getting away from thrown dishes and slamming doors.
Even so, that didn’t mean that Janus didn’t regret the entire day of school. It seemed like a breath of fresh air when the lunch bell rang and the students shuffled out of the class in a lump, leaving just him and Mr. Sanders behind, as per usual. Just as he reached down to pull his lunch out of his bag (just a handful of cold scrambled eggs he had set aside from his already meager breakfast), the teacher spoke.
“I actually have a meeting today, Jay. You’re gonna have to find a different place to have lunch.”
“What?” Janus recoiled as he spoke, his own voice sounding foreign to him. He hadn’t meant to talk back, half expecting a lecture, and was surprised when the teacher’s expression morphed into one of sympathy.
“Sorry, bud. It’s a staff meeting, and I couldn’t find a TA to watch the room over the break. It’s only for today. Cafeteria is open though, I’m sure you can find an empty table there. Or better yet,” He smiled softly, lifting his laptop bag onto his shoulder, “Sit with someone. I’m sure it’ll be okay.”
Janus picked up his bag as well, rushing from the room without a second glance. He didn’t feel like explaining that the reason he sat alone wasn’t his choice, and he couldn’t help it. He was just tired of being pushed away, so why not make the first move himself.
The path to the cafeteria was hardly trodden by him, and he tried to take in the pictures of past grad classes on the wall for as long as possible before his time was up. The security guard marching the halls gave him a pointed look, reminding him that he couldn’t stay in the hallways during lunch, so he hunched his shoulders and walked into the lunch room. He cursed the weather under his breath for being so damn hot today; he would melt in his hoodie and gloves to cover the ink. Luckily the splatters on his face blended in enough with the skin tone to be unnoticeable.
The first thing he noticed is that it was loud. People shouted, trays clattered, and Janus wanted nothing more than to curl up in his hoodie. Social interaction. Gross. The second was that Mr. Sanders had been right, there was a line of empty tables at the back that people seemed to avoid in favor of grouping together in the center. The third and final thing was the overwhelming sense of loneliness that flooded Janus as soon as he walked in. Sitting alone in an empty room was one thing, choosing to sit alone in a crowded room was another.
For a split second, the teacher’s words ran through his mind, and he wondered briefly if he should join a group, only for his anxiety to immediately shut the idea down with a shriek of are you crazy?!
He chose the closest table to the door that was untouched and sat hesitantly, appetite lost. All he had to do was get through an hour of this, he thought painfully. If he paid close enough attention, he could tune into other people’s conversations, and if he closed his eyes and drifted far enough, he might actually imagine that he was a part of them.
“Hi!”
Janus’ eyes shot open and he shrunk back as if he’d been slapped. Standing in front of him was a guy he recognized from his math class, bouncing on his heels enough to make his blonde curls fall into his eyes. He was grinning from ear to ear, gleaming teeth matching the white collar that stood out from under his blue sweater.
“Do you want to sit with us?”
His critical glare didn’t deter the overly joyful guy as he gestured over Janus’ shoulder, encouraging him to look. He did, albeit reluctantly. Four people were sitting at the table behind him, three caught up in a spirited conversation. The last one was staring back at him owlishly through thick square glasses, and surprisingly, Janus wasn’t unsettled by the look.
“Come sit with us!” The happy guy said again, looking like he was refraining himself from just grabbing Janus and pulling him over. His round glasses had started edging down his nose as he hopped from foot to foot.
“Are you sure?”
“Yep! Please?” He drew out the word for several seconds. Janus couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at his lips, nodding mutely and gathering his backpack. His anxiety started again, pelting him with ‘they’re going to hate you’s and ‘this changes nothing’s, but he pushed them down resolutely. It was just the one meal. Tomorrow would be back to normal, eating lunch by himself in Mr. Sanders’ room. And he really couldn’t say no to that hopeful face.
“Yay! Okay,” He led Janus to the table, dropping into one of the two empty seats and pointing to the one next to him. He took a deep breath before gushing on, “Sit! Okay, okay, okay, so I’m Patton, purple-hair is Virgil but they hate the name so you can just call them V. We all call them V. That’s Logan, and the twins are Roman and Remus. Remus has the white streak, but it’s actually really easy to tell them apart once you get to know them.”
Janus’ blood froze in the middle of Patton’s gleeful rant. Those names… those were all the names that kept popping up over the five months of secret soulmate snooping. That wasn’t a coincidence, right? Most of those names weren’t exactly common.
His eyes shifted to the two Patton had introduced as Remus and Logan, sitting shoulder to shoulder across from him. Remus had halted whatever he was talking so animatedly about in favor of greeting the newcomer, but Janus couldn’t get himself to wave back. Instead he dropped his gaze to their loosely intertwined hands on the table, feeling somewhat lightheaded at the identical golden stains covering both of them.
So... he ran. He wasn’t proud of it, and he was somewhat certain that he’d made a scene, but he couldn’t do it. His own self doubt was crippling, all his fears rushing him full forced and reminding him just how little he mattered, how messed up his life had made him, how he would only ruin any possible relationship. This was all too real now. They fit so well to the picture he had unintentionally made of them in his mind; navy blue button up tops and slicked back hair, green bomber jackets and mussed up shoulder length curls. Eyes that glinted with barely concealed mirth, a dimpled grin revealing almost razor sharp canines. Two polar opposites, so perfectly built for each other, soulmates. He would just come along and ruin it.
Screw the sun, he thought, as he sat on the scalding hot bleachers by the football field. To his extreme annoyance, tears had started drifting down his cheeks, and he hurriedly wiped them away from sheer habit. His dad didn’t like tears almost as much as he didn’t like Janus. It wasn’t like they would know it was him, right? All they knew was a stranger had been invited to their table and had booked it before they even got his name. So he could stay a mystery, a fly on the wall, for the rest of his days.
The all too familiar feeling on his arm was more of a curse now than it ever had been. Resigned to his fate, he rolled the sleeve up to read whatever the two were no doubt talking about.
Hi.
He looked around frantically despite his better judgment, his eyes landing on a figure standing at the end of the bench, uncapped pen in one hand and one blue sleeve rolled up. Logan regarded him with a careful look, locked in a staring contest that neither wanted to look away from. The other broke first, turning his focus to his steps across the rickety surface as he approached Janus. He took a seat, mumbling something about how hot it was, before scribbling something else onto his arm and capping the pen. Janus tried to fight the urge to look down at his own still-bare arm, but he couldn’t resist a quick peak.
I found him. Bleachers in the north field.
“Why don’t you take off the gloves, at least. It’s almost ninety degrees out.”
Welp. Apparently this was happening. “How did you know?” He whispered, not touching his gloves.
“Remus and I both felt naturally drawn to you as soon as you walked into the cafeteria. We could not and still can not explain it. When Patton followed our gaze, he was more than eager to invite you over. Not that he needed the prompting, I am certain he would have invited you over regardless of Remus’ and my feelings the moment you sat alone,” Logan stopped briefly, taking note of the new green smiley face under his last message, “Your reaction to our names and hands in rapid succession was enough to solidify our previous suspicions. That-” He pointed to the shared messages on their skin, “-was the final proof I needed.”
They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, Janus at a complete loss for words, until a loud clang to their right grabbed both of their attentions. Remus was clinging to the railing like a vine, having climbed all the way from the bottom, he realized with a start. The older man crawled over the top and landed solidly, rattling the seats, before bouncing over to them.
“Hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi!” He plopped onto the bench in front of Janus, sitting backwards to face them. Consequently, he was slightly lower than the other two, and could see Janus’ usually ducked face for the first time. “Oooh, I like your birthmark! Is it a birthmark? Or a burn? Either way, I don’t care. I like it.”
“Gee, thanks,” Janus snarked before he could stop himself, his self protective tendency rising to the surface. Remus only giggled in response, manspreading a tad more and leaning forward on his elbows.
“I like him, Logan. He’s feisty.”
“I’m so glad I have your approval.” He was on guard now, he couldn’t help it.
“Remus, stop pestering him. He just met us.”
Remus grumbled under his breath but held his tongue. Logan could silence him, he’d have to remember that for the future. If they had a future. He couldn’t help the sliver of hope since they had actually come to find him… but maybe it was to let him down easy. No clue.
“When did you turn eighteen?” The question shouldn’t have shocked him the way it did; it was a valid thought.
“Five months ago.”
And he waited, expecting the worst at the sharp intakes of breath from both of them. Expected them to stand up and leave. Expected them to call him a creep. Expected them to… anything, really.
Well, anything except take his hands. Which they both did.
It was like they could speak telepathically, the way they seemed to be so in sync. Maybe that was a soulmate thing. Remus reached forward and weaved their fingers together at the same time that Logan placed his hand over Janus’ left one, squeezing it gently. They were both calming gestures in their own ways, and admittedly the most contact Janus had felt in maybe years. If that wasn’t enough to bring back his tears, Logan’s next words certainly were.
“Why didn’t you write right away?”
“That’s so much missed time we could have spent together,” Remus chipped in, eyes surprisingly soft.
“I…” Oh, for fuck’s sake. Better let them see how messed up he is now so they can walk away before he gets attached. More attached. “My parents are soulmates and they ended up hating each other. He’s a jerk, he hurts her and me and I didn’t want that to happen to me and my soulmate. Soulmates, I guess. Then the first thing I saw was you guys talking, and I realized, there’s two of you,” He laughed humorlessly, shrugging nonchalantly, “You wouldn’t be missing out if I never made myself known, and what kind of asshole would I be if I intruded on your relationship anyways? It’s not like I can add anything worthwhile. I’m not… that great of a person. I never have been. I have too much baggage and I’m pretty boring and I only scare people away so if I were you I’d get out while I had the chance.” His cracking voice gave away how he actually felt, and he despised himself for it. In all honesty, there was nothing he wanted more than to be held and loved and wanted. He’d never had that before in his life, was it a crime to not want to be pushed aside forever?
To his utter confusion, neither of them pulled away. He’d just vented to two strangers, and they were still as attentive as before.
“Now, we don’t have time to unpack all of that,” Remus hummed in a decent impression of John Mulaney, letting his thumb glide over Janus’.
“So if I’m correct,” Logan stated in a tone that implied he usually was correct, “You didn’t contact us because you didn’t want to burden us, or get yourself hurt.”
“I mean… yeah.”
“I’m going to kill your dad,” Remus chirped all too brightly, “For hurting you. And for ever making you think that we would hurt you.”
“Remus!”
“It’s true!”
Logan sighed heavily, “Remus is a little extreme, sometimes, but he is harmless. Look, I can assure you that your presumptions are entirely false. We would never harm you, and anything you’ve gone through in your past, what you call baggage, is not a deterrent to us in the slightest.”
“I have bipolar disorder, and a whole wacky past that we’ll get into another time,” Remus added, waving away Logan’s ‘shut up’ face, “And in the fifteen years I’ve known this nerd, he’s always stood by me.”
Janus knew it was supposed to feel better, but learning that the two have known each other since long before they knew they were soulmates suddenly made Janus feel that much more like he was intruding. Remus must have noticed his expression, because he quickly kept going.
“All I mean is that we have our fair share of baggage, my multicolored friend-”
“Remus!”
“Both of us do. So you won’t be hurting us in any way, shape, or form. And we won’t hurt you either.”
Janus’ own doubts were still raging inside him, but each word they said was adding splashes of water, slowly dousing the flames, much to his dismay. Even Remus’ attempts at humor were delighting him in ways he wasn’t used to.
“For some reason, the universe wants us together somehow. We’re meant to be in each other’s lives. Aw gross, that sounds like something Roman would-”
“Trusting us will be a slow process, and we understand that,” Logan interrupted smoothly, “You don’t need to believe our words, because we’ll prove it to you. Alright?”
It took a second until Janus nodded, but he did. He could hardly understand it himself.
“Can you start by telling us your name?”
“Janus.” It was a near whisper, a confession of the name he’d disliked since he was old enough to get bullied by his peers.
“The two faced Roman god of decisions, doorways, and new beginnings,” Logan spouted as if on instinct.
“Janus,” Remus repeated slowly, before a huge grin stretched across his face, “I love it.”
#lywrites#tsshipmonth2020#intruloceit#janus sanders#logan sanders#remus sanders#sanders sides#sanders sides fanfiction#ts soulmate au
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Kyōjurō x F!S/O: Bed Weather (Fluff, Modern AU, SFW Scenario)
Summary: Kyōjurō and his wife snuggle in bed, talking about their future child, while rain is pouring outside.
Note: This was self-indulgent as hell, since it’s the rainy season now. 😂
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The soft sound of rustling sheets stirred (Y/n) from her light nap, making her slowly blink her eyes open and savor the ever-welcome sight of her husband sliding next to her in their bed. He gave her a soft smile, one that had nothing but love and affection for her— which had her heart racing faster inside her chest.
“Did I wake you? Sorry, baby.” Kyōjurō’s voice was hushed for once, seeming so off on him due to his jubilant personality and general loudness. But (Y/n) appreciated his softness all the more, as it was a side of him that only she was privy to.
Out of all the people Kyōjurō loved, the quiet and serene side he showed at that moment was something that was only for her. Because she made him feel so soft; she was the silence and solace that he needed in his life, and it was really smart of him to have never let her go.
With a shake of her head, silence stretched upon the couple— something that was warm and comforting, instead of awkward and cold. It helped stave off the chill that the pouring rain outside brought with it, and added a much more comforting vibe in their bedroom.
“Did you wash your feet first?” (Y/n) asked quietly, inching closer to her husband and wrapping her right arm around his middle, while the left one stayed folded between their bodies.
In response, Kyōjurō hauled her closer to himself; holding her tight especially when he felt how cold her legs and feet were, despite having been under the blanket. “Yes. I didn’t want to upset you again.”
The young woman rolled her eyes at that, holding back a chuckle to keep her husband from knowing that she found his little teasing remark humorous, at the very least. It would just push him to start teasing her more, and that wasn’t what she wanted to deal with— since he could be such a big child about things like that.
“I only get upset because you always bring dust onto the bed, and it feels rough.”
Kyōjurō laughed at that, something much more subdued than his normal boisterous laugh— but a laugh nonetheless. He then leaned forward and pressed an affectionate kiss against his wife’s forehead; letting his lips drift down and trail butterfly kisses all the way to her lips. “I know, it won’t happen again. Promise.”
“Good.” With that, (Y/n) closed her eyes and closed the gap between their mouths— lingering for a couple more seconds, before pulling away and nuzzling her cheek against his chest.
Another bout of verbal silence stretched between them, filled only by the soothing sound of the rain falling on the roof, as well as the droplets ricocheting off of the windows.
The way that they were tangled together was already comforting— enough to lull (Y/n) to drowsiness— but it was the way that Kyōjurō drew nonsensical patterns, with his fingers, across her back that really had her fighting off the urge to succumb to sleep.
“How did your doctor’s appointment go today?”
(Y/n)’s eyes blearily opened at that, before closing once more. She then readjusted her hold on Kyōjurō, before slinging a leg over his hip; hooking the back of her right foot to the back of his knee all to make herself more comfortable.
“She said that things are fine with the baby, but that I need to eat more fruits that are rich in vitamin C,” She explained softly, to which her husband nodded at with a soft hum
He already had a plan to buy her a basket filled with oranges the following morning.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t go with you,” Kyōjurō apologized sincerely, pausing with his aimless doodling on her back, before pressing another kiss to her forehead.
A small smile made its way onto (Y/n)’s face at that, right as she answered, “You can come to the next one. I made sure to ask for a Saturday appointment, so you won’t have work.”
It was such a simple sentence, and an extremely simple thought, but it warmed the young man’s heart all the more— bringing tears to his eyes, which he desperately tried to blink back.
The tranquil air between them only added to his emotional response; coloring his feelings such a soft yet simultaneously vibrant red for his wife, and the tiny life growing inside her— a tiny life that they made.
“Oh, I did record the little nugget’s heartbeat for you to listen to. It’s on my phone.”
Reluctantly, the blond pulled the tiniest bit away from his wife so he could get her phone, which she had put next to his on his nightstand. The lamp momentarily blinded him, yet it was worth it when he managed to unlock the phone with her passcode: their exact marriage date.
Well, the first one where they eloped, anyway.
That had caused such an uproar with (Y/n)’s entire family, but it was a story for another day. They liked him a lot, but the problem was that he and (Y/n) couldn’t wait another year to get married, so they’d decided to run away instead.
It was a good thing that, after the first few months or so, her family had forgiven her— all because they had promised to hold a proper wedding ceremony in the future.
While Kyōjurō got a bit lost in his memories, his thumbs brought up the Voice Memo logs— with the one and only file staring him in the face.
He couldn’t really explain why, but his heart began to race especially as his thumb hovered over the file itself. Nervous couldn’t even begin to describe how he felt; it was a mix of that, excitement, happiness, and a little bit of fear.
Not fear of having a baby, but fear of not being a good enough father to his child. Still, he pushed those thoughts down and played the recording.
And instantly, the sound of a fluttering heartbeat filled the room— playing over the rain falling outside. It was soft in its cadence, but it could have been considered loud what with the way that it totally had Kyōjurō enamored.
His eyes looked down at his smiling wife— whom still had her eyes closed. And he was glad that she couldn’t see him, because he felt his own tears bubbling to the surface.
The longer that he heard their baby’s heartbeat, the more that things seemed surreal. It calmed and excited him all at once; making him want to run up to the top of the house so he could yell in joy, all while rendering him so weak and jelly-kneed right where he was.
He couldn’t even bear to move, at least until the minute-long recording had stopped playing.
Then, in one fell swoop, he found himself clutching (Y/n) tight to his chest— burying his face in her hair as he tried his best to keep himself from outright crying.
“Thank you, (Y/n)... for everything.”
#rengoku kyoujurou x reader#kyoujurou rengoku x reader#rengoku kyojuro x reader#kyojuro rengoku x reader#demon slayer x reader#demon slayer fanfic#kny x reader#kimetsu no yaiba fanfic#rengoku kyojuro#rengoku kyoujurou#kimetsu no yaiba#demon slayer#kny rengoku#kyojuro rengoku#rengoku x reader#rengoku kyōjurō#demon slayer rengoku#jen writes
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(I post most of my art in insta nowadays. No link, but it's mareliiini, with three "i"s.)
Time to say final goodbyes to this hell year, as well for a full decade of art..
Year summary: like previous year, finding stuff to fill up some months was hard. I've had some big art bursts in early jan-feb, summer, and during autumn, when i produced several pieces in one sitting before fading into obscurity of life and knitting for months. My artistic balance has relied on to comic making schedule, honestly since 2011, so without that constant flow of crunching up pages weekly I was left wandering amiss and motivationless. I've always made a rule for myself with these yearly summaries, that I wont use comic pages unless there's nothing else that month to fill it up, and this year I couldn't even rely on that.
Decade summary: Started filling up the latter monstrosity of a dA meme back in 2014 and filling it up has been a yearly tradition ever since. It is so wild looking back. 2011 I had been in Uni for a year and haven't really drawn "seriously" ever, outside of private diary doodles and plastering my room with fish art (do not ask me about my finding nemo phase please) and surrealist charcoal renderings. Reliable access to internet and fandoms, and the whole culture of creating in those spaces is really what made me draw more reliably in the first place.
Home was always filled with art supplies (comes with dad being professional oil painter with a severe case of procrastination syndrome), so in a sense I've been priviledged for early and easy access to those... many gouaches and dip pen nibs I use still, are stolen from home drawers, not that I'd had had money to buy completely new art tech supplies on the fly. Only in recent years I've been comfortable enough with my income, that I could purchase better quality watercolor papers and ink sets, and not feel bad for using them regularily. For comic pages I still use cheaper paper, though that has been upgraded several times since the cheapest sketchbook paper I started with. You don't need Big Quality to make Good Art, but it makes the experience of making it a bit more fun.
Looking back, 2014 and 2015 seems to be most important turnaround time. I was breaking away from the mold I'd created my art identity around of, and growing tired of having story ideas but no original characters. I've had some in the early teen years, but I'd been comfortable for years with using pre-set characters from whatever fandom I was into at the time. And there's nothing wrong with that, I say as an avid fanfic reader, but at some point with making Hey it's summer! the frustration between story I wanted to tell and feel proud of, and the set of characters I had decided to work with, to the point of them being almost oc's in the au world, it just put everything in halt. I'm never going to finish HiS! because I cannot finish it with those characters, and cannot remove the story entirely from it's fandom roots even by made-up ocs. 2014 was largely spent on focusing oc's... I created a bunch of grandma characters for a story I'll never be clever enough to write, and then accidentally stumbled upon Jooel in a dream I wrote up and continued later (yeah they're there in 2014 row). I think most of Bus cast was created in that year, but I didn't have clear enough plan for it (and never had even during writing) untill some years and one cloud comic later.
2015 was Big Year for original writing, as well for everything else. Which is why I have to bring it up. As short detour as the tau fandom was, it granted me the first real friend group online, one which is still together now, give or take a few changes and dramas. It wasn't the main reason, but one of the big ones for me to get proper smart phone to keep connected to them outside evenings (biggest reason was neko atsume..... i wanted to feed my cats....). Cloud story was a wild experience I can never replicate, but also a memory I will always remember fondly. 2015 also was the year I started my three years government supported therapy, which I believe affected Bus a lot. I was really tired and couldn't bother to spent time to look for the perfect fit, so I ended up with a therapist who uh, I guess helped? some? Would not recommend my tactic but it was best I could do at the time. Before that bus had never been more than wild ride of found family tropes frollocing around finnish highways, it was a roadtrip story at heart with supposed collection of small moments of each character, of local problems and stories and people they meet with 4 equally written main characters. Therapy thethered it to one character and one town with whisps of its origin, but it provided a big supplement for the somewhat-working therapy sessions.
#art summary#mareliini draws#u can find prev years from art summary tag in my blog#too lazy to link them#art summary 2020
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seven things | h.hyunjin
↭ genre: enemies to lovers au (kinda); fluff
↭ word count: 4.27k (i might’ve gone slightly crazy)
↭ a/n: yEs i is back!!!! here’s a hyunjin scenario that i don’t really like to make up for my disappearance from posting works :D i’m writing this on a whim so it might seem like i’m on crack but really it’s just me on a daily basis,, also this turned out way longer than i expected whoOps
⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•��⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅
ok so
you were waiting outside the cafe that you and hyunjin usually go to
and y’all might be wondering
why don’t you just go in??
that’s what i’m wondering too
well because
your best friend was late,,, for the 3rd time that week
and to say you were pissed was an understatement
just as you whipped your phone out to message that not so little nuisance, you heard rushed footsteps getting closer and closer
and you turn just in time to get aTTACKEd by this boy
“i’m SO sorry y/n i overslept and like i really tried to come on time but then the bus was late too and-”
“just stfu and never talk to me again”
well then
“noOOoOo y/n don’t say that i’m so sorry. i promise i’ll try my best not to be late from now onwards :(”
and like you really wanted to be mad at him
really
but he was pouting and your heart was going boom boom
because he just looked really adorable
so you just ended up going “ugh fine”
which was the cOmplete opposite of this whole speech you had planned in your head
about how you were going to stop being friends with him and move to another continent,,,,,,,,,,
yea maybe that wasn’t such a good speech
but you weren’t going to let him go that easily too
so, you being the absolute tease
“you know i think it was better when we hated each other”
oUCh
and hyunjin being the drama king he is
decides to go overboard and clutches his chest, staggering around the entrance of the cafe
you just roll your eyes and walk into the cafe,,, ignoring the poor boy outside
as you scan the cafe for seats, you feel a weight on your shoulder
“you know the feeling of hate was never mutual”
and you look up to look at the party responsible for this new burden
and well let’s just say you were about to combust on the spot
because your best friend was one good looking boy
and like all this violent rush of thoughts took you back to when the only “feelings” you had for him was hate
*cue flashback* i suck at transitions im sOrry
so you were just chilling in class,,, minding your own business as you doodle on your book
when the school’s most popular girl decides to spill her salad juice or whatever disgusting green thing she was drinking, all over your papers
and i mean, accidents happen ofc and you’re TOTALLY willing to let it go
if she had apologised
IF
but she was clearly too popular for petty things like apOlogies
so you just open your mouth to fire at her when she cuts you right off
“that was my only juice, but i’ll forgive you since i’m so kind”
and you just stare at her like she grew 3 heads bcs
how is one so dUMb
“oH that was juice??? i thought you were drinking vomit, you know since it kinda matches up with your personality?”
oH no one messes with you
and you were trying really hard to hold your laughter in, because you were the sAss master and no one stood a chance against you
but she just whined like a little girl, with no proper comeback to match up to yours
“hyunjin baby!!! aren’t you going to say anything?!”
and you just realised the being standing behind her,,,, hwang hyunjin
soccer team’s star player/captain and pretty much the most popular boy
half the school was drooling whenever he passed by
and i mean,,, it’s not like the girls didn’t have good taste or anything of that sort
because this boy was sculpted by the gOds,,,, and you would be lying if you didn’t let yourself glance at him a little longer than needed when passing by
but like all cliche stories, the most popular girl and the most popular boy were dating
i mean,,, cmOn it’s a given
till this day you were still wondering how in heavens they ended up together,,, one’s a plain bitch and the other,,, well, not so much of an asshole
but all thoughts of him potentially being nice unlike his girlfriend flew out of the window in like a millisecond
“hey y/n maybe you shouldn’t have left your bag to block the aisles”
bij say whAT
first of all,,, your bag was tucked close to your table, bcs you were a responsible student who cared for the well-being of other students,,, most of the time
second of all,,, how did he know your name??
you were pretty sure you never mentioned it
but as these thoughts were running through your head, rendering you silent,,, the bij thought she had “won” and took hyunjin’s hand with a smug face, walking off
and you were too busy caught up in your own thoughts to notice the apologetic look hyunjin was desperately trying to get across to you,,,,
but you knew one thing for sure after that small incident
you hated hwang hyunjin
call yourself a niggling bij but that’s just you,,, you gotta deal with what you gotta deal
so since that day, every time you glanced at hyunjin, your glance turned into a glare and you made sure he caught that “glance” before you broke eye contact and stormed off
your petty-meter was seriously off charts,,,,,
and it pains you to admit it but mAyhaps the reason you were so pissed was because you had this teeeeeeeeeny tiny crush on him, just like the rest of the girls in the school
because although he was a jock and dating that evil witch, he seemed nice to enough to smile at anyone who made eye contact with him and like,,,, basically for being the opposite of being a generic athletic jerk
but nAh that one sentence was enough to snap you out of your delulu and go about your own day,,,, ya know, hating hyunjin and stuff
the usual
so this goes on for weeks, you giving hyunjin your famous glare and hyunjin feeling his heart break every time you do it,,,, bcs he’s never had anyone hate him before
one day you were at the library, rushing your assignments bcs dAmn the queen of sass was also a queen of procrastination
like mate, stop procrastinating
you binge-watched your show over the weekends and now you were seated at the library, regretting your life decisions
and you’re so focused like, it’s a miracle that you’re that focused
but some iDIOT just breaks that focus by sitting from across you on YOUR table
who dares
you look, ready to snap at this soul when you realise who it was
oh
“hey y/n,,, can i sit here?”
“funny how you do it and then ask for permission”
at this hyunjin gives you a sheephish smile and goes
“well i had a hunch you wouldn’t have said yes if i had asked first”
“ding ding ding!!!!!! you’ve got the correct answer and earned yourself no shits from me!”
at this, you go back to your work, ignoring the cute pout hyunjin was now sporting because of your ignorance
3 minutes later and you’re disrupted again
“hey y/n,,, i’m sorry for what happened between you and her,,, i really didn’t mean to say that. i just wanted to let you know that i broke it off with her.”
“oh wow congrats”
you hear him sigh, feeling triumphant that you had gotten him to give up talking to you
well spoiler, you wERE WRONG
not even 2 minutes later
“hey, do you have a pen i can borrow? i lost mine,”
“hey do you know what this means”
“hey-”
tHAT WAS IT
“omG hyunjin i’m trying to finish my assignment will you just shut up for a while? like literally i’m willing to do anything to get you to shut up”
you furiously look back down at your assignment, wanting to get it over and done
and then you hear it
you hear him clearing his voice,,, indicating that he was about to speak again
just as you were about to cut him off
“anything?”
wut,,,,,
“what do you mean, anything?”
“you said you’ll do anything to get me to shut up. will you really?”
“ofC not what do you take me for??”
“okay then i guess i’ll just continue talking :>”
bOi
that did it for you
you slammed your book shut, and looked up at him, narrowing your eyes suspiciously
“what’s your deal?”
at this, hyunjin looks away, thinking for a while
just as you were starting to get impatient, he speaks up
“okay. okay okay okay. this is the deal. i’ll stop talking for the rest of the day if you promise that we can be friends. and that you won’t hate me anymore.”
well that was unexpeCTED
but you weren’t that easy
nah uh
“wOw you’re asking for a lot huh,,, hmmm let’s see,,,,,,,,,, no.”
and just as you were about to pack your stuff and move to another table, you hear something that stops you from moving
“i’ll help you with your assignment. i’ve already finished mine so it’ll be a piece of cake.”
now THAT was a good offer
“but i only help my friends with their assignments”
this lil sHIT
well played hwang hyunjin, well played *slowly claps*
you watched as he smirked at you, knowing that he had caught your weak spot
you had an internal debate with yourself, and finally came to a decision
will you regret this decision??
probably
but you were desperate
so you stare at him for a few seconds before extending your hand
“deal.”
he breaks out into a grin and grabs your hand, sealing the deal and the start of a new friendship
that night, just as you were about to sleep after that oh so eventful day you had, you hear your phone chime
you groan as you reach out, wanting to make as little movement as possible bcs,,,, you were lazy
you grab your phone by the tips of your fingers and check your messages
hyunjin: hey this is my address! [address]. see ya tmrw bestie <3
you roll your eyes at his attempts and type one letter before throwing your phone to the side and drifting off to dreamland, with a slight smile on your lips
you: k
the next morning,, you are there at hyunjin’s front door, right on time
bUt why aren’t you pressing the doorbell????
let’s be real,,, underneath all that sass, you were just a nervous teenage girl
before you could chicken out and leave, you smack yourself and press the doorbell
a few seconds later the door opens,, and you come face to face with a middle-aged woman
“hi dear, what can i do for you?”
aWkwArd,,,,
“uhm,,, i’m here to work on an assignment with hyunjin??”
“oh! hyunjin didn’t mention anything, but come right in!”
that little piece of uncultured swine
you walk into the house and stand around awkwardly, not knowing what to do or say
when his mother points you to his room, and lets you know that he’s probably still sleeping with a small shake of her head
hmMm looks like him oversleeping happens often
you contemplated if you should go in,,, cause ya know, privacy and shit
but you had to get your revenge??? obviously
so you silently walk in to the room and voila
there was that sleeping lump, sprawled across a queen sized bed
as you get closer, you can’t help but notice just how good looking he was
i mean sUre you’ve seen him around in school but
with the amount of peace he had on his face,,, he looked almost ethereal
but with that thought, you snapped out of it
bcs exCuse yOu
you’re here for revenge
not to admire the boy
so you carefully lift your leg,,, and muster all the strength in the world
and BAM
you just kicked him off the bed,,, him falling onto the floor with a loud thud
and it did the trick !!!!
he shot right up and looked around, vision hazy and mind still blurred
just as he was starting to come to his senses, his eyes focus on the one girl standing on the other side of the bed,, smirk evident on her face
“that’s what you get for leaving me alone with the adults in the house”
and you walk right out,, leaving him to stare at you speechless
time skip,,,, 5 hours later, and you’re all done with your assignment
and although you hated to admit it
it turned out pretty fricking amazing
thanks to your brain, your hardwork, a bit of hyunjin, but mostly your perseverance :D
oK but real talk literally you were screwed if he didn’t help so
you kinda owed him big time
“look man, thanks a lot for your help. i would have died without you”
and hyunjin just counters this statement with a smile and shakes his head, letting you know that it was okay
and you kindA felt bad,,,, i mean, you did try and kill him with your glares the past few weeks
and you weren’t thAt mean
so,,,
“uhm,,, do you think,, maybe,, we could start over? hard feelings forgotten?”
and this takes hyunjin by total surprise,,, like all he ever wanted was just to talk to you after seeing you stare him down the past few weeks
but he’d be lying if he said that his heart wasn’t bursting for joy bcs !!!! yay!!!! you didn’t hate him anymore!!!!! what a baby boy
so y’all start over that very day,,, and as expected, hit it off almost immediately
*end flashback*
sO back to now where you have an amazing best friend
pshhh best friend they say
what no i didn’t say anything
n E ways
oK fine,,, on top of him being your best friend, it was really no surprise that you fell for him
i mean cmon
he’s sweet
talented
bEautiful
and etc
but like bij nAh, you were never planning to confess bcs bij??? that could ruin your friendship????
everybody facepalm with me
so you just keep it a secret and try to live with it
except it was reaaally hard to keep it a secret
bcs you saw him almost every. single. day
he’s always asking you to do something with him
getting ice cream,, watching a movie,, going to the park
you even learned how to play soccer bcs he insisted on teaching you
but despite all this, you were still persistent that he saw you as nothing more than a friend,,, and that he did this with all his close friends
news flash: nO he did not
but since it was too much feelings for you to handle, you spill all of this to your other close friend, jisung
and he’s like
“oOOoO expected,,, why don’t you just confess??”
and you’re like
“are you duMB? it’s going to ruin our friendship?? i can’t do that??”
and he’s just like
“you’re the dumb one here sis, but go off, i guess”
bCs literally the whole world knew you two had heart eyes for each other
and by whole world, i mean jisung
and being xTra, he’s like,,, you know what?? i gotta get them together
so he “casually” makes a bet with you
and you’re like ooOoO fun
bcs you love bets
mainly has to do with the reason that you hardly ever lose one :>
so when jisung goes “if i get higher than you on this economics test, you gotta text hyunjin 7 reasons why you like him. no explanations given.”
and you really wanna say no and run away
but like
you were no coward
so you’re like “sUre bij bring it on, i was born ready for thi s”
so the day you get back your results, you’re more nervous for the bet than your grades
like you could fail, for all you care
but as long as you failed higher than jisung,, all’s fine
so when you get back your test with a 86 scribbled at the top, you grin to yourself,, convinced that there was no way he was gonna get any higher than you
but as you turn to show him your score,, your smile slowly fades,,,
bcs on his paper
a big red 92 is written at the top, with an ‘excellent’ scribbled next to it
“so,,, y/n,,, ready for what i’ve planned?”
and he’s just grinning like the cheshire cat, with you staring at him in disbelief, mentally counting down to your doom
the next day, you try to convince your mum that you’re down with a really bad disease, which makes it absolutely impossible for you to go school
but your mum ain’t buying that
so there you were, standing at your locker, looking left and right for any signs of han jisung
just as you thought you were safe, you hear someone calling out your name
your face turns white, as you turn around, expecting to come face to face with jisung
but instead you’re met with a raven-haired boy that made your heart beat unnecessarily fast
“whatcha doing today after school??”
and you’re just like qUick think of an excuse
bcs you were in no position to stay with him any longer than necessary for fear that you may just blurt out what you had formed in your head bcs of the bet
“uhhh i’ve got plans with jisung!! we’re gonna go to,, the market! yea!”
seriously,,,, that’s the best you could come up with??
so hyunjin just gives you a really weird look and draws out a “okay,,,,,,,,”
and you’re just like “yea okay bye!!!”
and you run the heCK away
time skip and it’s the end of school
the time which you were dreading,,, because there stood han jisung, waiting for you to confess to your crush
“jisung,,, i really don’t think i can do this,,, can’t i just like, buy you lunch for a week or something?”
“as tempting as that sounds, nO. you’ve gotta do this for yourself, for humanity, and for my sanity. i swear i can’t hear you talking about him again”
at his, you sigh, knowing that he’s right,,, but still not gaining the guts to do it
“come on y/n,,,, you know that on top of me really wanting you to stop bothering me about him, you really gotta get your feelings out of your system,,, you’re not going to be able to keep everything in.”
and although you just wanted to die and chill in heaven at that moment
jisung had a point,,, which was a rare occurrence
so you decide to listen to him,,, i mean, what’d you got to lose???
maybe your shame
and your precious friendship
but that’s it
so you whip your phone out and press the top contact on your phone
“ok here i go,,,”
“yEs queen!!! get it!”
you briefly roll your eyes at him, before returning your eyes to the screen
the cursor blinking, almost tauntingly
you breathe out and just take it as a platform to let it all out
i love the way you play soccer
ofc you do,,, i’m the best :P
you feel slight relief at his reply, but at the same time, you couldn’t stop the way slight disappointment filled you at his interpretation of you texts
jisung peeked at your phone from over your shoulder, immediately voicing out objections
“come on y/n!! that’s so lame! that barely counts as a confession!”
you groan out loud, and type on your phone, earning a hum of satisfaction from the nosy boy behind you
i love the way your eyes crinkle when you smile
why, thank you y/n,,,, but what’s with the sudden compliment spree
“ugh, jisung i’m going crazy,,,”
you actually were,,, moments away from throwing your phone into the lake right beside where you were seated
“you got this love,,, just a few more and you can live with no regrets,”
you knew he was right,,, although it was absolutely embarrassing, you know you would regret not telling him in the future
i love the mole underneath your eye
y/n??? c’mon, what’s wrong? are you pranking me right now??
you take a deep breath, and continue on, with the newly found courage
i love the way you pestered me to talk to you even though i was being a complete ass
hey seriously, tell me what’s happening?
i love the way you always manage to put a smile on my face no matter the circumstance
y/n, please,,, don’t fill me with empty hope,, cut it out if you’re pranking me,,,
,,, empty hope? what’s that supposed to mean??
whatever it meant, it sure did it’s part in speeding up your already dying heart
you suck it up, butterflies growing stronger as you get closer and closer to your last message
i love how my heart speeds up merely at the mention of your name
tell me that this is what i think it means,,,
you stared at your screen, three simple words written out
but your fingers seemed to be jammed, unable to press the send button
was this all just a mistake?? maybe you could just play it off as a prank by jisung
“you got his honey,,, just do it,, press the button”
and with this encouragement from jisung, you press the send button without further hesitation, feeling as though your heart physically stopped as you observed how the “delivered” changed to “read”, indicating that he had read your message
i love you.
are you for real???? i’m coming to you now. where are you?
you stare at your phone, unable to comprehend what had happened in the past few minutes, as jisung slowly pries your phone from you
he types your whereabouts, as you continue to space out, heart beating at an unusual pace as you still try to process what you just did
“i’m going to leave now okay? just know that i am really proud of what you did,,,, and don’t worry too much, everything will be fine,”
with this, jisung leaves, leaving you to sit there alone, just wondering how things were going to be between you and hyunjin now
were y’all going to stop being friends??
or maybe you could just completely ignore what had happened and go back to being how y’all used to be,,,,
as you were in your own world, you fail to hear the footsteps that stopped right behind you
you hear someone take a seat beside you and whip your head to the side, almost regretting it immediately
“so,,, your messages,,,,”
and before you could do anything else, words just spill from you mouth with no filter whatsover
“i’m so sorry hyunjin, i really am,,, i know that we’ve been really really close friends and i might have just ruined what we had. i understand if you don’t wanna be friends anymore but i guess i hope we could just forget this and move on? i mean, that’s totally your choice because-”
and you’re cut off, just like that
no warning
nothing
zilch
nada
and the only thing that stopped you from continuing your rant was the fact that there a pair of lips on yours
hyunjin’s ones to be exact
whAT
DID WE EXPECT THIS???
yes, yes we did
but you certainly got the answer to your worries by that one action
as y’all break apart, you stare at him still dazed by the kiss, as he smiles lovingly at you
“i was so afraid that you were just pranking me,,, because if you had been, i would’ve been so heartbroken cause i really got my hopes really high,,, like, super high,, i guess i never replied you tho,,,, i love you too y/n. more than you can imagine.”
and you just snap out of it and do something you always do when you had to cope with intense situation
you laughed
you laughed and laughed and laughed
were you laughing at the fact that the person you loved, loved you back?
were you laughing at the fact that jisung was right for once?
or were you laughing at the fact that you were being a dumbass all this while when you could’ve manned up sooner?
you never found out
but what you did find out, is that being in love was amazing
especially when the person you were in love with was hwang hyunjin
so since then, you’ve been having a pretty frickin amazing life
good grades, hot boyfriend, the whole package
the news that you both were dating spread like wildfire
half of them were surprised, the other half jealous
but people were mostly surprised bcs of the fact that they thought you and him were already dating,,,
like you both were glued to each other every other day
so with that, everyone slowly got accustomed to the fact the school’s jock was once again taken
your relationship with hyunjin didn’t actually change that much,,, other than the fact that y’all kissed and did all the mushy shit
and also omg imagine
you going for his soccer games, sporting his extra jersey that had “hwang” on the back of it, together with the number he was playing
and also him giving you flying kisses right before the starting whistle blows
and running over to you to give you a proper kiss once the final whistle had been blown, win or lose
and you couldn’t have been happier
∞ end ∞
#skzwritersnet#sk-writersnet#district9net#stray kids#stray kids imagines#stray kids scenarios#hwang hyunjin imagines#hwang hyunjin scenarios#hwang hyunjin#dee scribbles
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gentle descent to seabed
Summary - The rising tide interrupts them, water reaching up to their toes before receding. If Hongbin was more poetic, he would say the waves are hesitant to interrupt the new romance that has bloomed overnight.
Warnings - cheesy romance
Tag List - @tomatoholmes @merlionmen @seraphistols @k-craze-97 @blossomtearsleo
Series
-
"I don't think I ever expected to run into you here" Wonshik says over the music. It's dulled down compared to the dance music on earlier in the night but still loud enough to stifle conversation. The crowd on the dance has whittled down to couples slow dancing or kissing.
"I don't normally come here" Hongbin admits. This pub is out of his way and he barely has enough time or strength left after working both his jobs to wander far.
"Hakyeon hyung has some family issues going on so I'm free from housekeeping duty for now" Hongbin tells him by way of an explanation.
"Yeah I noticed he cancelled his classes for the next week. Didn't show up to lab either" Wonshik recalls. "I hope everything is okay."
Hongbin nods in agreement. The explanation is probably a lie and an excuse to spend time with the stranger that has effectively moved in. It's funny because Hongbin was sure Hakyeon hyung didn't believe in love or romance and all of a sudden he's head over heels for this stranger.
Speculation aside, it isn't his place to gossip about his personal life with Wonshik who is simply Hakyeon's student. So he lets the topic slide and focuses on his food.
Honestly, Wonshik's presence is unplanned. The postgrad student happened to find Hongbin who originally came here alone to grab dinner and a few drinks. Hongbin invited him to join him, given how crowded the pub was and how some company was better than none.
It may also have to do with his slight attraction to said student.
Hongbin met Wonshik last year when he came home from the institute with Hakyeon, carrying some of assignments Hakyeon had to work on grading. Wonshik had his long hair pulled back into a ponytail and wore t-shirt on jeans but had looked incredibly attractive to Hongbin.
Hongbin knew he wore his heart on his sleeve so he hadn't acted on his crush. But the universe had other plans clearly as Hongbin kept running into Wonshik. Now that he knew the man, it felt like Wonshik was everywhere. It was a small town but it wasn't that small Hongbin swore.
And so he had resigned himself to living with his feelings and waiting for then to fade away.
When he looks to Wonshik sitting on the opposite side of the booth and how his dark brown hair reflected the neon disco lights he thinks, fading away could wait one more day.
They talk about the news and the happenings around the small town. Wonshik tells him about the new research at the institute. He has a way of explaining complex topics that helps Hongbin understand his research so it becomes infinitely more interesting than listening to Hakyeon talk about the same.
Wonshik's nose scrunches and Hongbin smiles involuntarily at how cute it looks. How cheesy, he mentally berates himself. But a little self indulgence is fine as long as Wonshik doesn't know.
Wonshik is blissfully unaware, talking about how Finding Dory and royal blue tangs and how they are endangered species that should really be protected better and not commercially exploited. Hongbin admires his passion for his field of research.
"Do you want to get out of here?" Wonshik asks, once the number of empty drink glasses is more than the table can hold and their combined tab might render them broke if they go on. They've crossed their alcohol limit three drinks ago and the pub offers nothing appealing to diver them any longer.
Hongbin agrees. The idea of not having to scream over the amplifiers is very appealing to his throat. (And under the street lights, he can probably admire Wonshik better.)
It's quiet outside the pub when Hongbin follows Wonshik out. The silence ahead is deafening and the music fades the further they walk. The hum of the crowd is replaced by a silence typical of urban nightscapes. The quiet is only disturbed by sounds of the engine of a passing car or the buzzing of air conditioners and generators outside residential buildings.
The neon lights of signs outside all day convenience stores is brighter than the flickering street lights but Wonshik isn't worried. He navigates it with a practiced ease that tells Hongbin he has walked this route multiple times.
They pick up more drinks from one of the convenience stores on the way. The buzz of alcohol has Wonshik in high spirits and he hums along to the song that was playing in the club before they left. He even break dances to make Hongbin laugh and Hongbin giggles because Wonshik is so cute. His long skinny legs make it funnier for some reason but Hongbin cannot comprehend why.
The cashier couldn't care less. She occasionally glances to make sure they aren't shoplifting but goes back to texting almost immediately. Once the boys leave, they resume walking to the seashore. The cold soda is sobering and conversation flows smoothly between the two.
As soon as they near the beach, Hongbin feels the wind get stronger and warmer. The sound of the waves hitting the rocks and the light from the lighthouse hit him together. It's an amusing sound gradient. From electric synth to city silence to water against rocks.
Wonshik guides him through the narrow alleyways that warp around the houses and the lighthouse and open to the beach. They kick off their shoes and Hongbin shivers a little when the sea breeze hits him.
"Are you cold?" Wonshik asks. Hongbin shakes his head but Wonshik didn't wait for a response to shrug his jacket off and put it around Hongbin. The closeness makes Hongbin blush and he is viscerally aware of Wonshik's body but isn't prepared for it being brought into the forefront of conscious thought suddenly.
"Won't you be cold then?" Hongbin asks, when Wonshik moved away and he pulls his jacket close. It's very warm and soothing. It triggers relaxation and exhaustion both at the same time in him.
"I'm used to it" Wonshik shrugs.
"Do you sneak out often then?" Hongbin asks. He remembers his college days and how he would often wander off to his friend's room to play games instead of studying. Wonshik's method is to sneak out onto the beach clearly and said man's guilty smile confirms his suspicions.
"I like walking around the beach at night. It's quiet and peaceful. Let's you think" Wonshik explains.
They dispose of the bottles by the recycling bins and kicks off their shoes and socks to feel the sand beneath their toes. The sand is wet and smooth since the tide receded barely an hour earlier. More of the beach is visible than Hongbin has ever seen in the early mornings when the high tide returns.
"Do you always have a lot on your mind?"
"Not really. But something about the beach makes a person philosophical."
Hongbin hums in agreement and they walk in silence till they find a spot to sit down on. They've been walking forever and his feet are grateful for the break. It's quite a long walk, Hongbin realizes belatedly. It didn't feel like it in Wonshik's company.
Wonshik sits down next to Hongbin. Their hands are very close and Hongbin's hand inches closer to Wonshik's. Their fingers don't touch but they could and Hongbin lets unsaid possibilities linger between them. It's as infinite as the grains of sand that like in between. Innocent and infinite, each just within reach should he gather the courage he needs.
Wonshik is more silent now. Their surroundings have rendered him sober and he looks more peaceful now. His serene smile calms Hongbin down too (though the nervous arrhythmia of his heart never really leaves). He looks out towards the sea and Hongbin looks to him.
"Do you know why I chose to study marine life?" Wonshik asks, his gaze not moving from the sea.
Hongbin shakes his head. Wonshik accurately takes the silence for a no.
"My grandmother was born in Japan. She moved to South Korea to be with my grandfather. She would tell me stories that her grandparents told her" he narrates, laying down so that his head lay on Hongbin's lap.
Hongbin hums in response. The nerves in his thigh are frayed, tingling on contact. The thin denim of his skinny jeans does nothing to prevent the warmth of Wonshik's cheeks seeping in.
"She belonged to a family of fishermen and women. She talked about different types of fish and different tides and different ways of catching them. She told me many myths of the sea" he continues.
"What kind of myths?"
"Of dragons that ruled the waters. Of a lost continent that lay submerged just off the edge of the island and in the middle of the vast east ocean. It had been lost many years ago and the people turned to sea creatures."
"That sounds a lot like the story of Atlantis."
"The folktale says that the people of Mu used so much black magic that the gods got angry and submerged their land. The good people they took pity on were given a chance to start over on Atlantis."
"That didn't end very well did it?"
"Not really. Humans never learn."
"I thought that when I grew up, I would be an adventurer. I would travel the seas and see all the wonderful things for myself."
"Did you see many wonderful things?" Hongbin asks curiously.
"Nothing that compares to you" Wonshik replies honestly. He traces random doodles on Hongbin's thighs and kisses the area closest to his lips. Hongbin can feel the silhouette of his lips and his toes curl in response to the physical action.
Hongbin's cheeks are red and this is the influence of alcohol he will swear later. Or probably the euphoria that comes from having your attraction reciprocated. Hongbin leans down and kisses Wonshik and his brain scrambles to find which of the two excuses to blame for that burst of courage. Wonshik hesitates at first but kisses him back and his brain throws itself out of the window at a breakneck speed.
Wonshik sits up and takes Hongbin's face and kisses it properly. His lips are as soft as the hands running through his hair and Hongbin melts, pliant under his affections. It's the effect of the sea air and the salty soda they've been drinking that Wonshik tastes salty and lemony. Hongbin thinks it's a wonderful departure from the sweet lips stereotype.
Wonshik takes his jacket off from Hongbin's shoulder and pulls the neatly tucked white T-shirt underneath out of his jeans. His hands roam under it as he deepens the kiss and Hongbin moans every time Wonshik's fingers brush against his nipples.
He pushes Wonshik's plaid over shirt off and unbuttons the shirt underneath. He kisses down the center of his neck to as low as he can go on his chest. Wonshik throws his head back and groans. When Hongbin pulls away, Wonshik chases. He kisses him on the neck and squeezes his waist. Both locations have heightened sensitivity and Hongbin whimpers when his body demands release of all the tension building up.
"My apartment isn't far away from here" Wonshik proposes. He leaves butterfly kisses all over Hongbin who doesn't really need incentive to agree.
"I don't know. The atmosphere is kind of romantic here" Hongbin teases. Wonshik laughs and Hongbin grins too. Kissing under the stars with the sounds of waves in the background is not all that bad. Not bad at all really.
Wonshik gets up first and pulls Hongbin up as well. Hongbin stumbles and Wonshik secures him by putting his arms around his waist. Hongbin's eyes twinkle when Wonshik uses the proximity to kiss him again.
"I've wanted to do that for a very long time" Wonshik confesses, resting his forehead on Hongbin's. Their height difference is negligible so their noses and lips align perfectly, Hongbin notices.
"And was it worth the wait?" Hongbin whispers. Wonshik can probably feels his lips move with how close they are.
Wonshik grins before lifting Hongbin up slightly and kissing him. Hongbin yelps before kissing him back. What cheesy nonsense is this? He didn't think anyone would ever sweep him off his feet literally. The force and speed with which Hongbin falls deeper for Wonshik could put dangerous whirlpools to shame.
Kissing Wonshik is like drowning but discovering you can still breathe on the other side. A heady rush of harsh bubbles foaming against your skin which then gives way to the still deep waters where everything else is obscured except the way the gentle descent to the seabed feels.
They kiss for a long time once Wonshik sets him down. The rising tide interrupts them, water reaching up to their toes before receding. If Hongbin was more poetic, he would say the waves are hesitant to interrupt the new romance that has bloomed overnight. But he isn't a poetic man. (He'll learn that Wonshik's romanticism makes up for it later).
Hongbin pulls Wonshik along to further inwards, walking back to the city roads but still holding hands so they don't let the other go. The sun starts to rise along with the morning tide. They've spent the entire night outside but they don't care.
The waters are coloured gold and red and Wonshik's brown eyes have flecks of golden in them. Hongbin's black hair actually has brown highlights which are visible in the sunlight. It's only the beginning of them exploring each other.
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My Best Friends Girl - Sweet Pea x Reader
Sweet Pea x Reader
Get ready - I want this to be multiple parts with some major drama
Masterlist
@idle-lanes @sgarrett49 @murderyoursoul @moonlight53 @redhairedoddity @the-achievementhunter @superoptimist1997 @gswritings @misskarynie @pancakefancake @alwaysthefangirl
Words: 1817
--
About 2 months Ago
*heavy knock*
Y/N watched Toni get up from her spot on the floor, as she continued her drawing for class, not really noticing the tall leather clad teenager walking in.
"Three people? This is hardly a hang Topaz", Sweet Pea saw a bottle of wine on the coffee table of the Blossom abode. Seeing the top of a head by the floor who had yet to look up.
"If you recall, I said we were studying...Y/N, this is Sweet Pea...", Toni tried getting Y/N's head out of of her project.
Y/N gave a soft wave with a piece of charcoal in her hand, neglecting to look up and keeping her eyes on her large drawing board.
Sweet Pea took the ignoring nature as a challenge and made his way to the bottle of the wine.
"Get a glass Sweet Pea! Geez, you're a barbarian sometimes...", Cheryl shouted quite loud finally having Y/N's eyes move up.
Sweet Pea took a large pillow off of the ornate sofa before him and plopped it on the ground near Y/N. "Whatcha ya doing?". Sweet Pea took a large chug of the wine glass that Cheryl shoved near his face - giving a sneer in jest back to the red head.
"It's a project for art class...", Y/N wasn't so much annoyed as just focused. She was never late on anything to do with school, and while her new friend Toni had tried to pry some fun out of her, she had a willingness to continue being herself.
"There are art classes at Riverdale?", Sweet Pea gave a confused look to Toni.
"I don't go to Riverdale High...". Y/N's hand made a heavy stroke to add some shade to part of a tree, she stared at it while giving her answer nonchalantly.
"Oh...", Sweet Pea gave an eyebrow raise, rolling his eyes with it.
Toni and Cheryl kept to themselves on the couch - whispering sweet nothings into each others ears as Sweet Pea tried to entertain himself with Y/N’s presence.
“So....what is it?”, Sweet Pea turned his body to face the drawing, seeing a large tree with an orange background.
Y/N gave a reluctant sigh, now being annoyed at not getting her work done, “It’s my version of the tree of life. So, below the roots...”, Y/N was gesturing now, “there is a motherboard...like a computer? So it kind of is a response to how technology is controlling the earth more than ever...”.
“Huh...that’s actually kind of cool...”. Sweet Pea gave a smile, giving a sincere response to something.
“Thanks...”, Y/N kept her annoyance.
“I actually mean it...”, Sweet Pea was becoming defensive.
“Oh...I...”. Y/N became defeated in a multitude of ways - she sat up to actually face Sweet Pea. “I have a hard time taking compliments...sorry. Old habits die hard...”.
“Well, it’s really cool. And I like how vibrant it is”. Sweet Pea gave a natural smirk to Y/N, not realizing how fast his heart was beating. “Why aren’t you drinking?”. Sweet Pea noticed the absence of a glass near Y/N.
“I’m just trying to get some work done. Toni invited me over and told me ‘I needed to get out more’“. Y/N shrugged. Replacing a black charcoal for a vibrant color.
“I was told there was going to be some booze...I didn’t expect fancy wine...”, Sweet Pea gave mock to Toni behind him.
Y/N laughed a little in response, “Eh, it’s like 4pm...didn’t seem like the time on a Wednesday....”.
“Ooh a goody goody eh?”.
“Says the guy drinking one glass of wine...”, Y/N’s words had a smirk behind them as only half of her attention was on the drawing in front of her now.
“SO...”, Sweet Pea poured some more wine into his empty glass as Toni seemed fixated on Cheryl on the couch, “Where do you go to school then?”.
“In Midvale”, Y/N gave a shrug, “I’ve known Cheryl since we were little and my dad didn’t move too far away. We see each other once in a while. She introduced me to Toni, who has that creative bug as well...”.
“Oh are we conversing over here?”, Cheryl spoke up from the couch after hearing her name.
“Oh there we are Blossom. Now I’ve drawn your attention after traveling half an hour...”. Y/N’s face lit up to her childhood friend - teasing in a affable way.
Cheryl stuck her tongue out in jest. “Yes well, I barely see you as it is Y/N. I’ll take what I can get...even if you just do homework the entire time”.
“Shall I read the text that says I was invited to study? Ugh....I can only stay like another hour”, Y/N stared at the baby grandfather clock that led to the kitchen.
“I can take ya if ya want...”, Sweet Pea drank more of the wine.
Y/N laughed, “I got a car and last I checked I was the only one sober, but thanks for the sentiment...besides, I have to go to work”.
Sweet Pea nodded. “Okay...so what kind of art do you like?”. Cheryl and Toni went back to talking to each other - excluding Sweet Pea and Y/N - not noticing that they both seemed to hit it off. Talking for a bit about art then music, Sweet Pea having a natural interest in Y/N’s words. A natural laugh would linger between the two of them, something in Sweet Pea beginning to overthink his actions and for once, his words.
"Whelp...", Y/N got off of the floor after putting her charcoals away, "I'm going to clean up a bit and then I'm...", Y/N turned to face Cheryl, "OUT OF you two lovers hair...", She drew attention to her words.
Cheryl threw a decorative pillow in retort - both girls giving a large laugh. Y/N made her way to the kitchen sink while Sweet Pea had a look of dismay on his face. Cheryl followed Y/N in the back making sure she didn't use the good hand towels.
"You going to leave to too?", Toni had finally given into appreciating Sweet Pea's presence.
"Aha. Have you finally noticed there is someone here BESIDES Cheryl?", Sweet Pea had a coy smile on his face.
"Yeah yeah, don't give me crap. So, what do you think of Y/N?".
Sweet Pea shrugged, not wanting to give into the thoughts in the back of his mind. "She's cool".
"Yeah she ain't bad for a Midvale Prep girl...", Toni reached for her half empty glass off of a side table.
"Midvale Prep? Damn...I mean she doesn't seem stuck up...".
"Well that's...", Toni's words were cut off by the re-entry of Y/N and Cheryl, Toni trying to give off an innocent smile.
"I'm off. Nice meeting ya!", Y/N gave a rushed wave to Sweet Pea as she had stayed longer than intended - quickly grabbing her drawing board and bag. A sincere smile coming across her cheeks as Sweet Pea and her made eye contact. For a moment, Sweet Pea could swear it lasted a minute versus a half a second.
The door shut and Sweet Pea's nerves fell as he contemplated what he knew about Y/N. Being quite sure that a girl like THAT, one attending Midvale Prep and all, could never be into the likes of him. And with that thought, he grabbed the bottle of wine and took a quick chug from the mouth of the bottle.
"GLASS Sweet Pea...you ogre...", Cheryl jeered a little as she made her way back to the couch, eyeing Toni to come sit back down with her.
Toni looked at Sweet Pea, noticing his stature of defeat but took no note of it - believing that Sweet Pea couldn't be into the likes of Y/N.
----
Present Day
Sweet Pea's thoughts lingered in the middle of class. Little doodles had rendered him bored, which had brought his mind back to Y/N. He had still only seen her once despite trying to get Cheryl to invite Y/N to something else, and with no luck, Y/N had always been too busy to travel to Riverdale. He had recalled her laugh, and that smile that had lingered between the two of them. Sweet Pea not noticing that in the moment his eyes were dreamy and his smile wide while the bell was ringing.
"Dude, come on. We got plans!", Fangs got Sweet Pea out of his daydream with a simple punch to his arm.
"Yeah...uh...sorry", Sweet Pea had noticed that most of the room had emptied. "What are we doing again?".
"I swear, your listening skills will be the death of me", Fangs gave an expected sigh, but called noting what was waiting for him. "You're meeting my new girl remember? We're meeting her at Pop's".
"Right, right. The 'chick of all chicks". Sweet Pea mocked Fangs.
They travelled to the hallway, giving no care to the students around them. "Look man, we've been going out for two weeks now - and a girl like her...well she comes along once in a blue moon. You're going to like her, I promise".
---
Sweet Pea and Fangs had made their way to Pop's, taking a seat in a booth while the place slowly filled with teenagers arriving after school - the beginning of a weekend lingering in the air.
Fangs sat back down, passing Sweet Pea his ordered shake. "Is she coming man or what?".
"She said she'll be here any minute man".
Sweet Pea played with his straw a bit, not giving attention to Fangs rambling about his new girl - and then he looked up, and that's when he saw her.
Y/N, in a purple blazer, with a matching skirt making her way to his table. He had no idea that his face looked in awe, in hopes that she had remembered him from several weeks prior.
Y/N gave a confused look on her face as her eyes travelled to the back of Fangs' head, and with it a stare back to Sweet Pea. Fangs turned to see what Sweet Pea was staring at, and greeted Y/N with a large.
"Hey babe", Fangs got up from his seat giving a quick peck to Y/N's cheek, all the while a jealous blood rising in Sweet Pea.
Y/N sat down, gave a small "Hello" to Sweet Pea and tried refraining from being a little surprised.
"Sorry I didn't tell ya but I wanted you to meet Pea". Fangs gave a gesture to Sweet Pea while hoping his new girlfriend would like his brazen friend.
"Actually, I've met 'Pea'. Through Toni...".
"Oh cool. Dude you didn't tell me you knew Y/N...".
"I uhh...well I guess I didn't relate the name. You didn't tell me she was from Midvale or anything....", Sweet Pea mumbled his words.
And with that - a rather uncomfortable sitting began in Pop's. While the stare between Sweet Pea and Y/N had only just started to be awkward.
#riverdale#riverdale imagines#sweet pea#riverdale sweet pea#sweet pea imagines#sweet pea imagine#sweet pea x reader#fangs fogarty
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kwauson replied to your photo “delilahmidnight: Look who I found at barnes and noble!!!!!...”
I saw a little girl reading this at Barnes and Noble and I did not know about this book but immediately recognized the art on the cover as yours. I wanted to know what it was so for the next 10 minutes I hid behind shelves like a weirdo stalker of small children and tried to read the cover from 15 feet away. My plan was to grab the book once she ran away screaming stranger danger, but she took it with her. ��
This is just the best story. I am tickled that people recognize my art on this book because of this blog. A lot of people are recognizing me specifically because of my Supergirl sketches and other fan art I’ve posted, so I have a little story to share…
A couple years ago, I was in a massive slump. I was just coming out of a rough few years in my personal life. Art-wise I was at a creative low, and I was barely making any money.
This was around when Supergirl season 2 started. I loved Supergirl throughout season 1, but season 2 is when I became mildly obsessed. I started drawing fan art and posted it on Tumblr. A lot of these were jokes and little comics based on what happened in the episode. I drew more and more until nearly every week, immediately after the episode aired, I was drawing a new cartoon. After a little while, I started getting requests, and I’d draw those too.
Now, the thing with these cartoons is that I drew them really really quickly. I thought they were just stupid doodles—I was almost embarrassed to post them. I didn’t really put them alongside my “real” art. My usual illustration style is very painterly and rendered. I never considered myself a “cartoonist.” Even the comics I drew before this point were pretty rendered and laborious to make.
The Supergirl sketches really stretched me style-wise. All I needed was to get the joke across without it looking like complete trash. I focused on looseness and action. A new style evolved, and I loved it. My art overall became less stiff and more fun. And I could draw a whole lot quicker than before.
Then I got the offer for this graphic novel. It was the biggest break of my career, at a time when I desperately needed a job. However, it was also 200 pages with a very tight deadline. I think from start to finish, I drew this book in about six months (and if you are unaware of how fast that is for a graphic novel, it is VERY FAST). I knew I needed a style that I could do very quickly, and not have it look like trash.
TL;DR… My stupid Supergirl sketches VERY MUCH informed how I drew this book. The fact that the art looks familiar to a lot of you is not a coincidence. I would say I would not have been able to draw this book if it wasn’t for Supergirl. Supergirl may very well have saved my career.
#kwauson#asks#comments#random#personal#story time#this is probably not the response you were expecting#but i hope you enjoyed the story#and this is why i think it's so funny and awesome that people recognize me on this book#well look at that Supergirl is my real life hero
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Originally wasn’t happy with this, but I’ve warmed up to the doodle over the last day or two. I’m kinda happy with the overall shape, as well as all the little detail I was able to do on her PipBuck. Fun fact, I have a severe weakness for tubbo Littlepip- oops. What do you want from me she’s a top tier waifu-
Anywho! Enjoy the doodle, as well as a little story I’ve left below!! : D
You are carrying too much and cannot run!
“W-Wha? What are you talking about!” The usually small unicorn scolds her PipBuck quietly as it flashes warnings at her left and right. A nearby Sparkle-Cola bottle lie tipped over right by her hip, said hip swollen and rounded with pudge from all the numerous snacking the stable-dweller had done as of late. “I just emptied out all the rations in my inventory- how in the world are you still saying it’s too much-” She blushes harshly as her belly grumbles and sloshes, looking down at the aforementioned beach ball of a gut. Emptying her rations only created a whole new problem- It had all stacked onto her. Littlepip wasn’t so ‘little’ anymore.
“Y-You’ve gotta be kidding me- think Pip, think!” She hears her companions chatting nearby around the corner, both of them aware of their lightbringer’s snacking habits- though this was a bit new. She’d never been rendered ‘too heavy’ before... She couldn’t let them see her like this. She desperately tries to zip up her Stable barding- but the zipper snaps halfway through, flying off her barding before pinging against the wall.
“Pip? Was that you?” Velvet’s voice called, Pip’s ears folding back as she slumps back a little more. She tries to find some kind of solution or spell, but her soda-sloshed belly gives her away before she can get a plan cooked up... Gwuuuurglebloooooorp~!
“Yup, that’s her alright..” Velvet and Calamity round the corner, only to find the mare leaned back on her haunches, PipBuck still flashing as she tries to close her barding with huffs and puffs, her chubby cheeks lit up a furious red. Calamity presses a hoof into her swollen belly, able to sink it in fairly deep as the unicorn lets out a harsh squeak. She glances up at the both of them, pupils dilated completely.
“From now on, the food stays in my inventory- And you’re working out with Homage at the tower for the next little while...”
‘Celestia fuck me sideways with your forehooves-’ The tubby mare thinks to herself, cheeks puffing out as she conceals a little burp at Calamity’s playful press.
Wanna Donate an Oreo? (Ko-Fi Tip Jar!)
#oreo arts#dorky-oreo-pone#MLP#traditional art#tubbo#littlepip#more like bigpip amirite#im an idiot#dont mind me
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Meant To Be
Group: SF9
Member: Taeyangie!
Genre: Fluffy-angst because that’s all I’m good for. Soulmate!AU, non-idol!Taeyang, and some mess; collegeAU because I’m trash
Request: Yes! Hello~ I saw that your requests are open! Could you do your take on a SF9 Taeyang scenario? Maybe something involving the soulmate trope of being able to see what is written on your soulmates skin on your own :) //I fell in love with your recent Taeyang scenario and just had to see more ><
Length: short|medium|long-ish|idk man
A/N: This has been a WIP for a while & I hope whenever it is finally posted you enjoy it, thank you for requesting. I really hope everyone understands it takes so long because I’m a college senior who has none of my shit together ever! *nervous laughter*
At the age of fifteen, all of you kids were told about the soulmate system if you guys didn’t know about it already. They had an Elder come in and explain it to the room full of rowdy kids what the system is, how it works, how each of them will find their soulmates one day.
It didn’t really interest you at first, in fact you thought the system was rather dumb. You didn’t get to choose who you loved, you were assigned someone who was “perfect” for you. Whatever that meant. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to find the person you’d end up spending your whole life with because you wanted too so badly. Your parents had showed you early on in your life just how wonderful the system could be. They were the perfect example as to why you secretly could not wait for your turn. They were happy together, they were a support system for the other. They were the poster couple of a happy and healthy marriage.
However there were always downsides, your soulmate was assigned to you and it was a societal standard to marry when a couple found each other. It was taboo to marry someone that was not your soulmate, yet there were plenty of stories. One person had fallen in love with another, they would have created a life plan even if they knew in the back of their minds it could fall apart. Then a soulmate would show up or happen upon the couple. If both chose to stay together then the soulmate was left to be alone. That was something that scared you, meeting the love of your life only to have them want nothing to do with you. Those horror stories stayed with you from the first time you heard them, always at the back of your mind.
Of course as teenagers no one took the system seriously. Everyone had a few serious relationships here and there, dating was mostly casual since parents were strict about the soulmate system. It drove everyone your age mad and it wasn’t a huge deal until you turned 20 anyway. None of you teenagers could understand the need to be so proper about things when you wouldn’t even be able to start looking until then.
Because for whatever reason on your twentieth birthday you were able to see any mark on your body that your soul mate made on theirs. You essentially became white boards for the other. There were countless stories of soulmates sending messages via this system, leaving addresses on arms or names on hands, even numbers on hidden body parts.
The day you turned 20, you awoke with a scribble on the back of your left hand. It seemed to be a girl’s name and number. The audacious feeling that boiled in your stomach had sat with you all day.
“Good morning birthday girl!!” Inseong busted into your room, a small wrapped present and a cupcake with a single candle.
“You’re especially annoying in the morning Inseong.” You groaned as your brother started to loudly sing to you, the pillow you put over your head not doing a damn thing.
“C’mon! You can finally see what your soulmate is up too!” Inseong was a hopeless romantic who ate the soulmate idea up, “You can find him! Her! Them!” You peaked up at him from under your pillow. “You know I don’t discriminate. Especially since I thought the guy down the street was mine.”
“I know Inseong.” You chuckled, remembering how quickly Inseong had accepted it himself when he saw a similar writing on the wrist of a guy in the neighboring apartment complex as his. “You were ready to propose to him the next week.”
“If it were meant to be, I feel I would have been very happy. He was a nice guy, but his soulmate is much sweeter than him. And that guy can cook!” Inseong set the cupcake on your bedside table and sat beside you.
“You still meet up with them?”
“Of course, almost confessing to a complete stranger lead me to Sammie.”
“That’s right.” You thought back to Inseong’s current girlfriend, who was more of a really good platonic friend where they both act like a couple because they haven’t found their soulmates yet. “How is she? She hasn’t been over lately.
“Her last message to me yesterday said that her workload was recently tripled because two coworkers quit in the same day and she’s currently dying.”
He moved you around and pulled you into a sitting position and started examining your arms.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking for signs of--AH HA!” He pulled the back of your hand closer to his face. “They’re a player? I’ll have to fix that.”
“Okay, keep the protective older brother in check please.” You tried to laugh it off.
“If your soulmate is a shitty person I’m beating the shittiness out of them. Now old still.” Inseong pulled a black marker from his back pocket and scribbled over half the numbers, in no particular order to render the number useless. Then he drew a weird looking animal out of the name.
“Why does it have to look so phallic Inseong?” You groaned, looking at the new mess on the back of your hand. “I have class in a few hours.”
“They’re already being a dick, so it’s fitting.” Inseong ruffled your already messy hair. “Just scrub it off in the shower, if it still looks like a dick afterwards I’ll draw something less, dick-ish.”
“I swear.” You grumbled.
But you made a wish, blew out your candle, thanked your brother, and bounced off to the shower. After you had gotten yourself ready and managed to get most of the phallic picture scrubbed from your hand, you flew down the stairs to find Inseong in the kitchen.
“Eat before you go.”
He had prepared a simple breakfast for the two of you to eat together. After you made sure all you would need for class was on the counter by the door, you helped Inseong set the table and happily started eating.
“You think you’ll find them quickly?” Inseong was moving his food around, not really eating.
“I -- I don’t know.”
The atmosphere had taken a more solemn turn suddenly. You stole a glance at your brother to see him staring blankly into his bowl.
“It doesn’t really bother me if I do or not.” You shrugged. “I have a lot on my plate right now, and I have you.” You paused to grab his hand. “We have each other and frankly that’s all I need right now. But if fate were to bring whoever it is to me, then so be it.”
“I hope it would end up Rowoon ya know.” Inseong joked. “Zuho even, if it were someone we both already knew it’d be so much easier.”
“You and I both know I’d end up killing Zuho, he’s my polar opposite.”
“Opposites attract!” Inseong rolled his eyes.
“No, if you hadn’t drop Social Psych you’d know that’s not true.”
“Technicalities.” He waved it off. “What about Rowoon then?”
“He’s my best friend Seong, of course I love him but I don’t think I do in that way. If he ended up my soulmate I wouldn’t be upset it’d just be weird.”
“That’s understandable.” Inseong smiled at you, ate a few spoonfuls of food before putting his stuff in the sink and grabbing his things. “I took an early shift today so we can go out for your birthday. So don’t make too many plans after class and invites your friends, it’s on me tonight.”
“Alright, don’t work too hard, I’ll see you later Seong.” He waved as he slipped on his shoes and left the apartment.
Ten minutes later you were mirroring his actions and heading to the bus stop to meet Rowoon. He was half asleep as you tugged him onto the bus after you and found a pair of open seats. He mumbled a quiet happy birthday before nodding off, head on your shoulder. Knowing he was probably up late either working on assignments for his classes or playing games well into the morning with Zuho, the latter being more plausible. You wake him up at the stop outside the university and the two of you trudge to the cafe on campus.
“My usual please.” Rowoon told the older cafe worker behind the counter we knew as Jaeyoon. “And her usual, it’s on me today.”
“Ah! Morning kids!” Jaeyoon’s smile blinded you so early in the morning. “I’ll get them, just a moment.”
Jaeyoon jumped into relaxed action, doodling your names on two cups and going to work. Rowoon waited by the counter making lazy conversation with Jaeyoon as you stepped towards the display. There wasn’t a lot of baked goods out yet since the cafe had been open maybe an hour. You had been mindlessly wondering around the familiar cafe for only a few minutes when Rowoon called you over.
“C’mon (Y/N), our classes start in twenty.” You looked down at your watch an noticed it was in fact 7:40, your 8:00am class was on it’s way.
“Thank you Jaeyoon.” You smiled at him as he finished your drink on the bar just out of your sight. “Why are there sprinkles on it?” You tilted your head a bit to the side.
“Happy Birthday!” He grinned bright, presenting you a colorfully topped drink. “Rowoon made the request so blame him if it tastes funny.”
“Thanks Jae.” Rowoon rolled his eyes. “You could have just acted like you knew.”
“I knew it was coming up but with the extra hours I’ve been working the actual dates have slipped my mind the last few weeks.” He shrugged. “And the last time I tried to flare up her usual she didn’t talk to me for a few days, our (Y/N) is very particular.”
“It was a day, mainly because I was busy but believe what you want.” You stuck your tongue out at him. “Inseong is taking me out to eat tonight and said I could invite some friends, when do you get off?”
“I’ll be done about 4 today, since I opened.”
“We’ll both be out of classes by then, we’ll meet here and you can walk back with us.”
“Sure, that’d be a lot of fun, thanks kid.” He ruffled your hair.
“I’m in a decent mood so I’ll ignore that.”
“Okay you two, we have class remember. See you later Jae.” Rowoon tugged you away as the two of you were playfully glaring at the other smirks adorned on your faces.
As you bid your see you laters, you took your normal seat in class. Your creative writing class had an interesting array of students, from wide-eyed freshmen to stressed seniors hoping for an easier class amongst their major based classes. You pulled out you notebook and pencil, loaded up the slides on your ipad mini and took a few sips of your drink as the rest of the class filtered in.
The room was chilly like usual and you were thankful for grabbing a thin hoodie on the way out. You had tucked your hands into the pocket of your hoodie as you heard the usual classmates enter and take up the row behind you in the amphitheater-esk classroom. Without meaning to, in the rather quiet classroom you listen to the conversation going on behind you.
“Hwiyoung, did you finish the short story for class today?” A voice you’ve heard all semester sounded tired.
“I finished it yesterday after class, is that look saying you didn’t?” The studious younger guy behind you chuckled.
“Dawon wanted someone to go drinking with him and obviously you can’t go, and he guilted me into it.” A soft voice groaned from directly behind you. “I only got about half of it finished.”
“It needs to be turned in before the end of class, if you want to finish it I’ll take notes for you.”
“The notes are online but I’d appreciate that.” You heard him get settled and start up his laptop before you heard their loud friend, the one named Dawon enter the room.
“Taeyang, Hwiyoung, I’m gonna need notes from one of you, I need to sleep.” You rolled your eyes at that, this Dawon guy never took notes in class. Granted, the class was an elective for most and a seemingly decently easy class.
“Did you at least finish the short story?” The tone from Hwiyoung was doubtful, and his question was followed by a crunching sound.
“Of course, 750-word story? I finished that before I went out last night.” Out of the corner of your eye you say Dawon shoot them finger guns before he folded his arms on the table in front of him and thumped his head down.
“Incredible.” The disbelief in Taeyang’s voice made you smile to yourself.
The trio made class pretty entertaining with Hwiyoung always up to participate in discussion, and on the days Dawon is awake for the lecture he’s always making the 8:00am lecture more lively and enjoyable.
A few quiet moments later, aside from the quiet snoring from Dawon, the creative writing professor walked in at the bottom of the room and set up for class. You resigned yourself to doodling on the open notebook page when you felt a weird tickle on your left forearm. Like someone was writing on your arm.
After a moment and a quick glance to see if anyone was looking, you slid your hoodie sleeve up just enough to see in plain and quite pretty print a simple statement.
You can see me now
A chill ran down your spine. You soul mate was reaching out to you. The tickle came again as you watched the words appear on your arm.
Happy Birthday soulmate
In your neatest print you use the black pen to the right of your notebook to reply just under the last message.
I can uh thanks
You watch as a small daisy is sketched onto your arm and a blush rises onto your cheeks and you start to feel too hot in your thin hoodie.
I’ve waited for you for quite a while
Oh? How long?
Turned 21 in February
Just a bit older then
Only a year
You looked up every few moments to copy notes, the tickle on your arm making it hard to focus on the lecture but the thrill of actually talking to your soulmate sent your heart into an erratic beating pattern.
What are you doing?
Lecture, unsuccessfully taking notes
Am I bothering you?
No, the lecture is boring. What about you?
Trying to finish an assignment, also unsuccessfully
Already pretty similar aren’t we
You added a smiley face as an after thought because if this were a text conversation you’d have sent the laughing emoji. The conversation, if you can call it that, pauses as the lecture drones on. By the end of the class you realize how covered your arm is in this person’s pretty handwriting and yours.
In a haste to get to Rowoon to tell him you quickly pack your things as the professor dismisses the class, reminding the class about the short story due in ten minutes. You hear a grunt as Dawon wakes up and stretches and a successful sigh directly behind you. You don’t realize your sleeve is still up until you stand and see Dawon staring at your arm. In a sudden flush of embarrassment, you yank your sleeve down and shove your stuff into your backpack. Just as you stand straight up and turn to leave you come almost face to face with Taeyang behind you, who was leaning forward to get the rest of his things from the edge of the table just behind you.
As your eyes meet, for the first time being this close you can see how pretty and clear his eyes are. You’re so close to each other in this moment you could count his eye lashes. Dawon sees this but stays silent. Hwiyoung is who breaks up the moment by asking them if they wanted to grab something to eat at the campus cafe before their next class.
Embarrassed you run off, leaving the three guys standing there, Taeyang’s two friends trying to figure out what they missed.
You bolt towards Rowoon’s classroom to see him waiting and the two of you head off towards the Social Psychology class the two of you have together. As you walk across campus you fill Rowoon on what happened and show him the writing all over your forearm.
“Look at that? Barely old enough for this soulmate business to have taken affect and you’ve found them.” Rowoon smiled as he ruffled your hair much to your dismay.
“You know I don’t give the soulmate idea much pull in my life.”
“I know, but wouldn’t it be nice? To find the one meant for you.”
“I guess, but I don’t even know who they are. Inseong asked me something similar this morning.” You shrugged, as the two of you entered your classroom and found your seats.
The conversation dropping as class started soon after you got situated. Class flew by because you loved Social Psych, lunch went by quickly as well. Then your last class each, yours being a 3-hour lecture, went by surprisingly quickly and before you knew it you were back at the cafe to pick up Jaeyoon.
“Drinks are on me!” Jaeyoon giggled, raising his hand to catch the server’s attention. “I made bank on tips today.”
He quickly asked for a few bottles of soju, even though he knew that you wouldn’t drink nearly as much as the three guys around you. Meat was cooking and conversation was flowing. The stress from the day melting away from the group gathered around you.
“I know as kids we’re warned about eating dessert before dinner, but I brought this from the cafe for you.” Jaeyoon’s grin went to each ear as he pulled a small box from his bag and set it on the table before you. “It’s only right that we have cake in honor of the twentieth anniversary of your birth.”
“Why did you say it like that?” You giggled, covering your face with one hand as you opened the box with the other. “That you Jae.” You thanked him sincerely, eyeballing the cake before you. “It’s big enough for all of us to have some too!”
“I didn’t know what else to get you to be truthful, Seong here was suppose to go with me to help pick something out but this asshole doesn’t make time for me anymore.”
“Sounds like a lover’s quarrel.” Rowoon muttered, hiding the remark in his glass of beer.
“Sorry I’m late!” Zuho waves as he drops down in the open seat between Jaeyoon and Rowoon, giving you the biggest smile he can muster. “Happy Birthday (Y/N)!” And he slides you a gift, as he notices the situation.
You heard Rowoon’s remark and choked on the sip from your own glass of beer. The coughing fit draws the attention of the tables directly beside you and Inseong quickly apologizes as Rowoon pats your back holding back his giggles.
As you look up you see at the table directly ahead of you, your three 8:00am classmates staring right at you with two people you don’t recognize. For a moment, everything freezes before Rowoon smacks your back rather roughly and you shoot daggers at him.
“That hurts!” You whined, bending out of the swing of another pat when that tickle hit your arm again. “You shouldn’t be mean to the birthday girl.”
“Okay, quit playing the meat is done cooking, let’s eat.” Inseong pulls all the attention to him as he’s cutting the meat into a pile on a plate in the middle and putting more onto the grill. And the eating begins, the conversation dies down to occasional comments, like Zuho informing all of you that his dance classes he is teaching are going well.
The table straight across from you and your friends and brother keeps looking over after hearing your coughing fit earlier. You don’t notice because of the four guys around you keeping your attention on them.
“She’s in our class.” Dawon addresses quietly, metal chopsticks resting in the corner of his mouth, waiting as Hwiyoung and Chani finish cooking the meat.
“(Y/N)? Right?” Hwiyoung asks, looking between Dawon and Taeyang.
“Yea, that’s (Y/N).” Taeyang agrees quietly, focusing on the drink in hand.
“What class?”
“Creative writing Hyung.” Dawon looked from the table you were at to his friends around him. “The class Taeyang is always staring into nothingness during.”
“Nothingness?” Hwiyoung perks up, “He’s always staring at her!” He very obviously points at your table.
“Don’t do that!” Taeyang jumps and jerks Hwiyoung’s arm down.
“Oooooh! Is she really pretty hyung?” Chani teases, his back being towards your table and not having seen you.
“She’s the quiet type in class, very cute and studious. She’d put our Tae to shame with her grades.” Dawon teases Taeyang by pulling on his ear.
“All his stories are about her.” Hwiyoung adds, ducking when Taeyang goes to smack the back of his head.
“Ah, this is the girl you’ve told me about.” Youngbin rests his chin on his hand, watching Taeyang blush.
“Can we not talk about this here?” His friends watched in deluded joy as Taeyang’s face was pink.
“It’s her birthday.” Dawon’s tone is casual. “If you haven’t talked to her before, why not now?”
“We’ve have a few times before, mostly in classes we’ve had together.” Taeyang tries to play it off. “I wouldn’t even know what to say to her right now.”
“How about ‘happy birthday’?” Chani laughed at Taeyang’s discomfort.
“Here.” Dawon pulls the bag from his side and hands it to Taeyang. “Figured since you like her so much you can give her this for her birthday.”
Taeyang, under the watch of his friends around the table, very slowly peaks into the bag to see a small plastic box with a red velvet cupcake and a small bouquet of daisies and some other tiny yellow flower.
“Her favorite flavor of cake is red velvet and she likes daises.” Dawon chirped, feigning boredom.
“How do you know that?” Chani asked completely and blatantly shocked.
“We have a mutual friend. (Y/N) and I.” He shrugged, a glint in his eye. “Besides, something tells me that Taeyang here and (Y/N) would make a good couple.”
“The only problem here is she is surrounded by three friends and her brother, and they all look intimidating meaning Tae will never make it over there.” Hwiyoung pointed a chopstick at his older friend.
“10 bucks he does.” Chani stuck his hand out towards Hwiyoung.
“Really? Alright, 10 bucks he won’t.” They shook on it.
“I can help.” Youngbin stood, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
The remaining guys at the table watched in shock as Youngbin walked over to the table you were at and sat down between your brother and a friend.
“Inseong?” Youngbin smacked your brother on the bak lightly. “I don’t think I’ve seen you since we graduated college!”
“Youngbin! Wow! What are you doing here?” Inseong spun around and gave the new face a quick hug.
“This is where some of my juniors frequent and they invited me here tonight, what about you?” Youngbin turned to face everyone at the table. “Hello, I’m an old classmate of Inseong here, I’m Kim Youngbin.”
“I’m Kim (Y/N), Inseong’s younger sister.” You bowed your head, greeting your brother’s friend.
The rest of the guys introduced themselves as Inseong sat there beaming.
“We’re here to celebrate (Y/N)’s birthday!”
You noticed the way Youngbin stared at your arm for a second, the arm that was still covered in the conversation with your soulmate throughout the day. He caught sight of a familiar hand writing before smiling to himself and focusing on your face.
“Happy Birthday (Y/N), my juniors were just saying that you looked familiar. Do you have class with any of them?” He motioned towards his table and everyone looked in time to see the four very obviously pretend they weren’t trying to listen in.
“I have a class with Dawon, Hwiyoung, and” You paused, locking eyes with Taeyang, “Taeyang. We have a lecture together.”
“So you do know them,” Youngbin’s grin seemed mischievous, “One of them heard it was your birthday and got you something but he’s too nervous to come give it to you himself. I know it’s your birthday and all but if you go over there he’ll give it to you.” Youngbin nodded behind you and as you looked up, Dawon left for the bathroom.
In the next moment Hwiyoung grabbed Chani by the sleeve and dragged him away, a wrap hanging out of Chani’s mouth. You once again locked eyes with Taeyang and you felt your entire body heat up.
“Oh, Inseong she’s blushing.” Youngbin loudly whispered to your brother.
“Go on.” Inseong encouraged, ignoring Youngbin. “We’ll wait for you to get back.”
“Alright, I’ll be back shortly.” With a deep breath and an encouraging look from each of the guys, you stood and moved towards Taeyang.
He quickly started scribbling a message in the card he found at the bottom of the bag. A quick happy birthday and well wishes. When he looked back up his hand froze because you were right in front of him.
“May I sit?” You gestured to the seat beside him Youngbin had previously been in.
“Go ahead.” Taeyang’s voice was quiet, just like in class. “I -- uh, here. Uhm... Happy Birthday?” He offered weakly, his cheeks and ears pink.
You looked down to see a cute card in one hand with a cupcake box resting on top of the card and a bouquet of daisies in the other hand. Shock was evident on your face at the thoughtful gifts, you hadn’t talked to Taeyang as much as you would have liked so you had no idea how he knew you liked these two things so much unless he made a lucky guess.
“Dawon helped pick them out. He uhh - he said that you liked daisies the most. I can’t take credit for the gifts. But please accept them.”
You gingerly took them from Taeyang, trying to control your own blush when you practically held hands as you took the gifts from him. You smelled the flowers first, daisies smelled so fresh and pleasant. They were simple and beautiful too. You looked into the cupcake box to find quite a large single red velvet cupcake with a little edible heart on the side. Then the note that fell onto the table caught your attention. You set the box down and cradled the flowers as you opened the card. His little message and the encouragement at the end made your heart swell a little, even if it wasn’t completely his idea it was still really sweet.
“Thank you Taeyang, this was really sweet. Thank Dawon for me too. I appreciate the flowers and the cupcake so much.” He watched with a smile as you put the card into your pocket. “I must return to my brother and friends though, they get rowdy with my watchful eyes.”
“Of course.” Taeyang stood with you. “It was no problem, (Y/N). Uhm, happy birthday again.” He watched dumbfounded as you sent him such a pretty smile.
“I’ll see you in creative writing later?”
“Yea, of course.”
And then you were walking back to your table and Taeyang’s heart was beating so fast he felt it was going to give out. Youngbin apologized for interrupting and promised to call Inseong later that week and rejoined Taeyang at their table. Slowly the rest of the table returned, Chani was ten dollars richer, Hwiyoung was ten poorer, and Dawon seemed to be waiting for something to happen. Before anyone could ask him about it, especially Taeyang, they heard you gasp.
You stood back up and walked straight to Taeyang, a small card in one hand you hadn’t seen before. You immediately grabbed the sleeve of his jacket of his left arm and pulled it up to reveal all the writing that was a copy of the writing on your arm. You just stared for a moment, Taeyang started to panic because you weren’t saying anything.
You wordlessly pulled the sleeve of your hoodie up to show him your arm, a perfect match to his.
“How?”
“This.” You handed him the note you found hidden in the bouquet.
All it said was “Check his handwriting again” which definitely would have been weird, but when he looked between your arms he understood what it meant instantly.
“Dawon?” Taeyang spun on his heels, without force enough for you to let go of him. “How did you know?”
“I saw her arm this morning in class. I recognized that handwriting immediately. It felt too good to be true and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Especially since you woke up me freaking out about the picture you woke up to on your hand.” Taeyang flushed again.
“Oh my god.” You covered your face, Taeyang had seen the dick drawn on his hand this morning. He must have thought you did that. “Inseong drew the dick this morning.” You admitted sheepishly, only to find yourself wrapped in a hug.
“I’ve waited quite a while for you.” Taeyang murmured to you. “Who would have thought that my soulmate would end up being the only person I’ve crushed on since high school.”
You moved to check your ears, had Taeyang just confessed to liking you? Liking you for an extended period of time? After a moment, you hugged him back, just burying your face into his chest and holding him tight.
“I don’t really believe in this soulmate stuff and I’ve heard you talk about how you don’t either but if you’d give me a chance, I’d like to try believing.” Taeyang asked quietly, trying to look you in the eye, but the focus flitted around a lot. “I mean, if you’re meant to be, we could alteast give it a chance right?”
“I’d really like that actually.” You could only smile, things worked out surprisingly well, like it didn’t feel real.
The cat calls and hollers followed from the mixed of the groups you two had been eating with. Inseong and Rowoon were cheering the loudest, almost being overtaken by Dawon who single handedly was screaming.
“I knew you’d find them quickly.” Inseong mused, staring at the two of you with hearts in his eyes. “But looks like we need to take a talk, your name is Taeyang right?”
You chuckled when Taeyang gulped, ultimately agreeing to take things slow since the two of you weren’t too far into your college degrees. Even with the slow burning relationship you were happy, and the fact that this happened so quickly after being about to really see your soulmate, it felt like a 1 in a million chance.
#sf9 scenarios#sf9 taeyang#yoo taeyang#sf9#bbwritings#request#this took so long to finish#i really hope you enjoy it!!
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With a hand brushing over the gift wrapping, a worn-out Ophelia set it on his windowsill. She hadn't seen him in a long time, resorting to calls and texts. It was a given since her workload had increased, but that wasn't the reason at all. For all the trouble she had been getting into as of late, it'd kill her if he were to see the mess made on her. When he'd open up the gift, he'd find a chain with a dog tag attached at the end, his name engraved on the back. Quickly as she came, she hid away.
UNPROMPTED ┊always accepting.
Even though today was his special day, nothing really special would be happening until the hours closer to the evening. The morning until late afternoon were his hours to spend as he pleased, and the boy was all too grateful for indulging on his sister’s offer to take over the chores for the day. He had work to do, and he would like to finish this summer themed piece before the celebrations began. It just so happened his latest client was a friend of his—and she was always threatening to give him the minimum of one entire paycheck of hers whether he wanted it or not.
Glancing at the two pieces he was working on, Keith sighed as he set down his paint brush for his designated fifteen minute break. He hadn’t really meant to sketch a bonus “mini” doodle to go along with the piece she actually commissioned him to paint. Knowing her, she would pay him for the second piece of art he was planning on simply rendering too, unwilling to budge if he kept so-called spoiling her with art she didn’t pay for. But he had ideas in his head and her request was fun to line and render. Besides, the smaller piece could be put on her desk if she so pleased.
As he leaned back in his chair, he could’ve sworn he heard something at the window. It could be the tree branch like usual, but what if it wasn’t? Ah, of course he didn’t want it to be. When was the last time he saw his neighbor anyway? Sure, he was able to keep the longing aside by focusing on his art and whatnot, but it was almost like he was returning to the quiet, lonely days at times—feeling left behind because he wasn’t doing the same thing as everyone else he knew and stayed within the security that was his familiar home.
Realizing he was entering a dangerous train of thought, Keith quickly pulled himself away from his desk to go check if he was simply hearing things. He may as well find out the answer himself before letting his mind run wild. He would not let his dumb brain ruin a nice day that would bring his family together! As he approached the window, he realized he had left it open longer than he intended to. Oh well, he could close it now itself—but then something sitting at the sill caught his eye.
A small wrapped gift sat there. Considering where it was, Keith had no doubts who put it there. After all, there was only one possibility—and that caused a smile to tug at his lips. It was certainly a gift from Ophelia and as much as he wished he could spend some time with her today, he didn’t want to barge in on her time if she was busy. Well, the gift itself was enough regardless. She had somehow remembered his birthday whilst forgetting her own.
Grabbing the tiny box from the ledge, he brought it inside and took a seat on his bed, curiously turning it around to find a good starting point for unwrapping it. To his luck, the tape used wasn’t stuck on too tightly, and the vibrant-colored, shiny paper was easy to remove. Then again, Ophelia probably did that on purpose so he could open it on his own. Discarding the paper to the side, he opened up the box to see a chain necklace with a tag attached.
He wasn’t one for many accessories, but he should make an exception for this one—it’d suit his closet well with its simplicity, and even more importantly, it was a treasured gift from a person he deeply cared for. He pretty much had to wear it. Inspecting it closer, he used his thumb to flip the tag over, revealing his name etched into it in her handwriting.
❝ First the mannequins and now this, ❞ he said to himself as he turned the tag over in his palm, ❝ she really does like putting names on her things... ❞ And yet here he was moved by such a simple thing all the same.
Running his fingers along the chain, a realization dawned on him—he’d have to get Rachael to help him put this on. Curse his non-working hand! But no matter how much she’d tease him for wanting to wear it due to the gifter of said accessory, he had no doubts she’d be glad to help him with the task no matter how many times he asked.
#* ✶ ❪❪ asks ❫.#ophelia┊ѕнα∂уιиfσ ✶ *#shadyinfo#* ✶ ❪ you’re too important to me so don’t leave my side┊❛ кєιтн ✖ σρнєℓια ❜ ❫#* ✶ ❪❪ in character ❫.#* ✶ ❪ a world set in the time and world of the present┊❛ мσ∂єяи νєяѕє ❜ ❫#* ✶ ❪❪ birthday wishes ❫.#;; ahhh thank you for this special ask!!#;; he'll wear this all the time#;; tuck it under his shirt sometimes and not at others#;; depends on his mood#;; bonus thought: he wears this as well as the ring pendant later down the line /eyes/#;; also client referenced is Reanne lol
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Rescue (Chapter 6)
seventeen | junhao | side meanie / vernkwan | chapter 6 of 10 | 24.4k
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written with @rendawnie | updates every saturday morning
summary: When Soonyoung finally “agrees” to let Junhui get a dog for their apartment, he realizes that he needed something a little bit more than a puppy. Enter Minghao, the bona fide Bad Boy™ with tattoos and piercings. Oh, and he doodles puppies and kittens in their Probability and Confirmation class.
chapter 6: dino
“Okay Dokyeom!” Dino announced, pulling out one of his class notebooks and setting it on Dokyoem’s desk. “It’s time to go over our plan for Operation Make Minghao Smile.”
Dokyeom was leaning back in “his” office chair in “his” cramped office. Spoilers: it wasn’t really his office (or his chair), he just pretended it was when the vet wasn’t there to, you know, care. Not that Dino would ever use this info against Dokyeom.
“Do we really need an operation name, Dino?” Dokyeom nervously scratched his head, his messy brown hair getting even messier. Dino had picked up on all sorts of Dokyeom nervous ticks, but this one was his most obvious; he knew he could charm his way into getting Dokyeom to help him out.
“Of course we do! ” Dino loudly retorted. “We need to have a codename to talk about our mission when Hao-hao’s around.”
Dokyeom paused for a moment. He was shooting Dino a puzzled look, like he still wasn’t quite on board despite Dino’s complete and unwavering conviction for codenames and missions and everything else covert. What wasn’t there to like about operation names? It was cool! Dokyeom was such a party-pooper sometimes.
“Okay… but… how does saying Operation Make Minghao Smile, like, not tell Minghao exactly what the goal of our Operation is.”
“It doesn’t because we’re going to have a codename for our codename, silly.”
Dokyeom sighed, leaning back in his chair even farther. The chair audibly creaked, though Dokyeom didn’t seem to mind much. “And what’s the codename for our codename?”
“Operation Mimosa, duh.”
Dokyeom raised an eyebrow in response. “I’m not even going to ask--”
“--Well, since you asked,” Dino interjected, “If you make an acronym from ‘Make Minghao Smile,’ it comes out to MMS, which you can sound out to make mimosa.”
His boss seemed to be deep in thought, as if he were trying to work out Dino’s logic in his head. Meanwhile, Dino just sat there expectantly, waiting for Dokyeom to realize his brilliance. Everybody always seemed so surprised when he said something even somewhat intelligent.
“That… That’s actually pretty clever,” Dokyeom finally replied. Dino: 1, Dokyeom: 0.
“And we can celebrate with mimosas after it works!”
“Don’t push it,” Dokyeom muttered, earning an immediate frown from Dino. “Why do we even wanna make Minghao smile?”
Dino frowned even more. How could Dokyeom, like, not have noticed? Was it not completely obvious to everyone in the whole wide world? Ever since the whole Junhui thing, Minghao was practically a ghost of his previous bad-boy self.
“Have you been living under a rock for the past few weeks, Dokyeom?”
“Um, well, actually--”
“--Yeah yeah yeah, you’ve been busy with whatever it is Dokyeoms go off and do,” Dino dismissively interrupted, watching as Dokyeom made a face. “Let me just remind you why Minghao hasn’t been himself.”
Dokyeom leaned back even farther in his chair. Dino was like 99% sure he was going to fall over.
“First, Minghao’s stopped talking.”
“Um, did he ever really talk much to begin with?”
“Yes!” Dino fiercely answered, leaning forward in his seat and staring directly at Dokyeom. “Minghao may not be the most talkative person ever, but he used to at least say more than ‘Hi’ and ‘Thanks’ or whatever. Now I’m lucky to get a grunt for yes out of him. Maybe he didn’t say much to you, but he used to talk to me all the time. Things like ‘Why don’t you go eat the cat litter, Dino,’ or ‘How’s the weather down there, Dino,’ or ‘Did you actually eat the cat litter today, Dino.’ Now he doesn’t say anything like that!”
Dokyeom leaned back a little farther until he actually almost fell out of his chair, catching himself before outright disaster. Dino repressed his desire to laugh out loud; Operation Mimosa was more important. Pretending like nothing happened, Dokyeom pivoted to his response:
“Aaaand that’s a bad thing how?”
Dino basically erupted, flying out of his seat and onto his feet in a passionate defense for Minghao. “Don’t you see a problem here!? Minghao used to care about me, that’s why he used to say those things. It was Minghao’s way of connecting with me -- his own sardonic, melodramatic, ridiculous way! But you know what? He owned it, and I loved it. Now he can’t even bring himself to be, well, himself!”
Dino sat back down again, collecting himself.
“And that brings me to number two: Minghao doesn’t seem to care about anything anymore.”
Dino sighed.
“Me included.”
“I’m sure it’s not just you.”
“It’s not, Dokyeom. It’s everything. You may not notice because you spend all your time doing paperwork and check-ups, but Minghao has been really reserved. Mellow. Like, even around the rescues, he doesn’t act like his usual self. Even around me, he doesn’t act like his usual self. And maybe I’m not his favorite person right now, but he always loves the rescues. You know Joshua Hong?”
Dokyeom made a face, as if he were deep in thought.
“Cute? Reddish-pink hair?” Dino prodded.
“Um, I don’t think so.”
“Joshua is his tutor for a few of his classes. Anyways, so he dropped by the shelter yesterday. Apparently Hao hasn’t been going to any of their tutoring sessions. He used to religiously go, Dokyeom. Like he made me cover his shift here once so he could go to his tutoring appointment with Joshua!”
Dokyeom frowned.
“Yeah, I covered for him! The point is that he used to genuinely care about doing well in his classes. But now I think he doesn’t even care about that. Or here. Or me. He’s down in the dumps, Dokyeom.”
Dino sighed again, fidgeting with the pen in his hand. “Third, Hao hasn’t been eating.”
Dokyeom frowned again. This time, Dino could tell it was less of a disapproving frown and more of a concerned frown.
“Are you su--”
“--Yes.”
“Hmmph,” Dokyeom replied. “I mean, he usually didn’t eat a lot, so--”
“But this is different, Dokyeom,” Dino insisted. He was slightly exasperated thinking about it, but he had to tell Dokyeom. “He used to eat most things I brought him. Now he won’t even look at it. He won’t even bring his own food either.”
Dokyeom pursed his lips. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yes, okay . Operation… Mimosa, or whatever, is a go.”
Finally, some progress! He had been telling Dokyeom about Operation Mimosa for the past few days, but Dokyeom kept waving him off. Now he knew he had his boss’s timid support, and that was more than he expected, to be honest. Meanwhile, Dokyeom shook his head, wondering just what he had gotten himself into.
“So here’s the plan,” Dino started, “I told Mull8 th--”
“--Wait wait wait.‘Mull8’ ? Did I hear that right?”
“Yeah, Mull8! That’s our codename for the target, Hao-hao.”
“Why? ” Dokyeom spat out.
“Do you remember back when he had that mullet for a few months? And his favorite number is eight, so, Mull8!”
Dokyeom buried his face in his palms. “Oh my go--”
“--I’m Agent Ramyum and you’re Agent Buttercup!”
“I regret agreeing to this so much.”
“This is important, Agent Buttercup,”
“If it’s so important did you really have to name me after a My Little Pony character!?”
“Are you trying to say you’re not a Buttercup?”
“I definitely am not!”
“Besides, I only named you Agent Buttercup because of Hansol’s chinchilla.”
Dino wasn’t going to lie; he secretly loved it every time Dokyeom was rendered completely and totally speechless. Like right now. There was something oddly satisfying about being so extra that people just didn’t know how to react. Especially people who were so slow to pick up on jokes, like Dokyeom.
“Anyways, so where was I?” Dino continued, pausing to remind himself what he was talking about. “Oh yeah, Mull8. So I told Mull8 to drop by after his class. I mentioned that he forgot something here.”
“Well? Did he?”
Dino looked away and quietly replied: “Not really…”
Dokyeom raised one of his eyebrows.
“Okay, well, he forgot about being best friends with me.”
“Aww, Dino,” his boss replied, making a sad face.
“It’s okay, though! This is why we have Operation Mimosa! Like I was saying, I’m going to lure Mull8 here, and then force him to come over to my apartment. I’ll say that I must have taken his thing home with me or whatever. Once we get there, your job, Agent Buttercup, is to block the door so that he can’t leave. I’m going to explain to Mull8 that this is an intervention, that we’re getting him a one-way ticket out of Mopeville.”
“Oh my god.”
“So, right now, I have enough popcorn to feed a small village, three really cheesy movies that I picked out on Netflix, and enough blankets to make at least 17 blanket forts. Oh, and some hair bleach.”
“Hair bleach? … Why?”
“New hair, new Hao, new boy crush. Duh.”
“Uh huh,” Dokyeom half-agreed. “Speaking of new boy crush… what exactly happened with old boy crush again?”
Oh, yeah. That.
“Well, um, honestly, I don’t know if Hao-hao is over Junhui. If I know anything about him, it’s that he’s probably out there beating himself up over yelling at me in front of his crush. He’s probably trying to get over his crush, but, like, can’t.”
Dokyeom just nodded. Dino decided to let the silence settle between the two of them, something he usually didn’t do. He really didn’t like thinking about what Minghao said to him. It hurt, you know? Minghao was one of his closest friends, and for him to say all of those things… even if he didn’t mean them...
“Yeah,” Dokyeom finally blurted out, “You sounded really upset when you called me after that whole… thing.”
“I know and I’m so so sorry I had to close down early after that, I know I was supposed to work til closing and I know it’s my job to take care of everything during my shift because you know that’s why you let me work here and I really let you down and I’m just so sorry and ups--”
“--Dino, it’s okay,” his boss interrupted. Dino looked up, and Dokyeom was looking back at him all concerned and stuff. His words and his expression were completely earnest. He forgot Dokyeom could be like that, and it made him feel so… relieved, that Dokyeom wasn’t like your normal boss.
“You were going through some things, and I get it. It’s also Minghao’s fault for walking out on you.”
“I know.”
“Dino, you did good, you focused on helping Junhui and then you called me. You did what you could do.”
“I -- I know,” Dino choked out.
“And…” Dokyeom started. “Well, I hate to ask this, but, like, why are you even trying to make Minghao happy again after he made you cry like that? After he said all of those mean things?”
“Because he’s my best friend, and he was having a bad day.”
*
“Dino.”
“Hao-hao.”
“Where’s my homework.”
To be honest, Dino wasn’t entirely sure that he was going to make it this far. He was 95% confident that Dokyeom was going to blow their cover at some point and/or that Minghao was going to catch on to what was going on. But, to his surprise, Dokyeom kept it together, and Minghao was oblivious. Dino had managed to convince Minghao that, yes, he had actually forgotten a piece of homework. And, yes, in a stroke of bad luck and bad forethought, Dino accidentally brought it home to his apartment. Furthermore, Dino was absolutely sure that it was due tomorrow because he remembered seeing a date on the assignment. Oh, and Dokyeom had decided to tag along for no particular reason. Minghao bought all of it. Bad boy? More like gullible boy. Not that Dino would ever say something that salacious to Hao-hao’s face. And, you know, risk death.
But, now that Minghao was actually in his apartment, the ruse was about to fall apart. Dino hadn’t really planned for how Minghao might react. Was he going to get angry? Was he going to try to leave? Was he going to chew him out again? Dino looked over Minghao’s shoulder and saw a very concerned Dokyeom. Dino quickly motioned toward the door, and Dokyoem got the signal -- block the door so that Minghao couldn’t leave. Agent Buttercup slowly moved into position.
“Dino,” Minghao sternly repeated. He was practically glowering at him, sullen eyes boring through Dino’s purest of intentions. Minghao was definitely not happy.
“Um,” Dino started, trying to think of words -- any words -- that might be able to convince Minghao to stay.
“I didn’t forget my homework, did I?”
Minghao was really glaring at him now. Dino kept wracking his brain, begging himself to come up with something, anything, to keep Minghao here. It’s like his brain was molasses, not a single coherent sentence or an iota of logical thought reaching him.
“And you didn’t bring it here, did you?”
Dino looked over Minghao’s shoulder again, his eyes pleading with Dokyeom to help him. Dokyeom just shrugged, looking equally as clueless and not-helpful as Dino’s brain. Note to self: write in Agent Buttercup’s performance eval that he’s not good at thinking on his feet.
“You don’t even know if I have homework due tomorrow, do you?”
Note to self #2: Agent Ramyun is also not good at thinking on his feet.
His friend rolled his eyes and sighed disapprovingly before turning around to leave. Minghao was moving quickly, but he stopped just in front of the door -- Dokyeom was blocking his exit. Dino could see Dokyeom’s eyes focus, like he had already prepared for Dino’s incompetence, like he had been steeling himself for this Minghao confrontation. It wasn’t like that was entirely surprising: Dokyeom probably had contingency plans for Dino throughout the shelter, Agent Ramyum just didn’t know about them. For instance, there probably was a plan B for when Dino accidentally adopted out the wrong pet to someone, which he almost did last week.
“So you’re in on this, too,” Minghao dryly said. It wasn’t really a question, like Minghao was totally disinterested in whatever Dokyeom decided to say in response.
“C’mon Hao, just listen to Dino,” Dokyeom calmly started, “He’s your best friend. Do you really think he’d plan all of this if it wasn’t important?”
“Oh, I’m sure he’d do something this stupid.”
Dino couldn’t see Minghao’s face, but he was sure it was expressionless, devoid of any feeling. Just like how he’d been for the past few weeks. Dokyeom, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes, basically glaring at Minghao.
“Hao,” Dokyeom replied, clearly agitated that Minghao was so openly dissing him. It wasn’t like his normal disses -- Minghao fully meant what he said, it wasn’t sarcastic or harmless teasing.
Minghao grunted, turning around to face Dino. His now-obvious annoyed expression definitely confirmed Dino’s suspicions: Minghao was not happy.
“So, um, I know the thing with Junhui a few weeks ago sucked.” Minghao’s expression soured even more; honestly, Dino didn’t think it was possible. “And I know I was partly to blame for making fun of you, and I’m really really sorry. I don’t think you meant what you said, but, um, I won’t lie. It hurt my feelings a lot.”
“And you didn’t mean to hurt his feelings, right? ” Dokyoem interjected.
“Even if you say you did, I wouldn’t believe you,” Dino replied before Minghao could open his mouth. “Either way, all I know is that you haven’t been yourself the past few weeks, Hao-hao. And you can try to say that ‘This is who I really am’ or whatever, Hao, but I still wouldn’t believe you. You’re not like this. You’re not boring. You’re not dismissive. You’re not someone who just drags themselves from place to place. I know you, Hao. You care a lot about your classes, you go to your tutoring sessions, you like doodling animals and dancing, you volunteer in the shelter because damnit Hao you love those rescues. And you say you tolerate me but I know you consider me a friend.”
Minghao looked away. His expression was softening, like Dino was getting through to him.
“And you can say whatever you want to try to deny that, but I know it’s true. I know it because you’re one of my best friends, Hao. You’re like a big brother to me.”
His friend looked back at him, his eyes wide.
“I wanted you to come over because I want you to feel better, Hao-hao. I want you to stop being so mopey, goddamnit! So I dragged Dokyeom into this, and… and we’re going to hang out tonight because you need to be reminded that you have friends that care a lot about you.”
“I know you care,” Minghao softly replied, looking away again. It was one of Dino’s favorite things about Minghao -- how ridiculously shy he got when his true feelings finally peeked through.
“Yeah, well I’m going to have to prove it to you, Hao-hao! So we’re going to watch cheesy Netflix movies, eat so much popcorn that we’ll get sick, hide in blanket forts on the couch, and we’re gonna bleach your hair,” Dino finished, holding up a bag of hair bleach.
“Wait, what,” Dokyeom piped up. Apparently he had forgotten about that part.
“I am not letting you bleach my hair,” Minghao insisted.
Dino just smiled knowingly.
*
“I’m going to help Dokyeom out in the back, Dino. You’ll be alright out front?”
Dino looked back at his friend, who was hovering in the open doorway heading to the exam room. Hansol had come in with Buttercup -- again -- and this time he brought along his boyfriend Seungkwan, who seemed to be even more of a hyperactive hypochondriac than Hansol. Hence the need for reinforcements; Dokyeom couldn’t deal with Hansol and Seungkwan breathing down his neck about their chinchilla’s mysterious “lethargy.”
Did anybody ever try telling them that maybe they had a lazy chinchilla?
“Dino?”
“Oh, yeah, I’ll be fine,” Dino said, smiling a little too much. He flashed an enthusiastic thumbs-up at Minghao who 100% definitely had bleach-blonde ramen-colored hair.
Minghao shot him a weird look, like Dino was the one who had bleached hair.
After his friend closed the door to the exam room, Dino chuckled to himself: Minghao was such a pushover. It took not even five minutes of pestering for black-haired Hao to buckle, giving into Dino’s puppy eyes. It was the “older brother” thing to do, Dino insisted. He loved every second of it -- if Minghao had been one of those Kpop idols or whatever, Dino stanned soft Hao-hao. He was just so cute.
And a pushover.
Minghao never really did apologize for three weeks ago. He didn’t have to, though. At least not verbally. Dino knew Minghao, and he knew that words were not his thing. No, Dino knew that Minghao was sorry when Minghao brought him a burrito yesterday. A burrito! Minghao doesn’t even buy burritos for himself. His friend gave it to him wordlessly with a small smile. It was cute.
Yet, despite the Operation Mimosa’s complete and resounding success, something was still off. Minghao was better, but Dino could tell something was off. He was still quiet. Reserved. Dino had a hunch it was about Junhui.
Dino heard the door open, perking up to see who it was.
Oh shit.
“Oh hey Dino.”
Oh shit oh shit oh shit.
Dino recognized that lilt in his voice, and he knew Minghao would too if he heard him, if he heard Junhui. Meanwhile, Junhui seemed completely oblivious to his role as Minghao’s #1 problem right now. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have come here, Dino reasoned.
“Oh, um, hi Junhui,” Dino choked out, trying to keep his voice quiet-ish. He needed to get Junhui out of here before Minghao finished up in the back and before Junhui figured out that Minghao was here. Dino ran one of his hands through his dyed brown hair, pushing it back. He wasn’t good at thinking on his feet, how was he going to pull this off?
“So, um, how can I help you?”
“Oh, I --” Junhui started, stopping mid-sentence without much explanation. “I was just in the neighborhood with Lilli and figured I’d stop by?”
Junhui looked down at Lilli, and the little sausage pup was excitedly wagging her tail in response. Damnit, it was so cute; Lilli had a pastel pink collar now, and it looked like Junhui was walking her using a pink leash with flowers on it. She seemed to recognize this place, too, wagging her tail even more when she noticed him at the front desk. Oh my god, he wanted to pet her so badly. Instead, Dino nervously laughed like an idiot. He really wasn’t good at this thinking-on-your-feet thing.
“It’s nice of you to visit!” he finally responded. Dino was trying his best to keep his responses short, hoping that Junhui would leave.
“I actually had a few questions, too.” Junhui shifted his weight, watching Dino carefully. “You know, about puppy training.”
“Um, well, actually --”
“I mean, if you’re busy, I could wait and ask Minghao or something?”
Abort, abort, abort!
“No-no-no, you can totally ask me, I know a lot about puppies!” Dino exclaimed... anything to avoid another Junhui-Minghao interaction -- another disaster. “Besides, Hao-hao’s busy right now.”
“Oh, so he’s here?” Junhui piped up.
Shit.
“Uh, yeah,” Dino admitted, silently berating himself for being such a dumbass. “But he won’t be done in the examination room for, like, hours.” And with Seungkwan and Hansol, that might actually be true.
“He’s in the examination room?” Junhui looked back at the door behind Dino, the door that said ‘Examination Room’ in big, bold letters.
Shit!
Dino just about wanted to light himself on fire right now.
“Yeah, but it’ll be a really long appointment! So you should just ask me your questions.” And maybe forget about Minghao .
“Okay. And then maybe Minghao can examine me.”
What? Dino cocked an eyebrow, and Jun’s eyes grew super wide in embarrassment.
“I meant ‘my Lilli,’ sorry,” Junhui added. “Sometimes I, um, forget how to talk.”
“Uh huh.”
“It usually happens around Minghao for some reason…” Jun explained.
What was going on with Junhui? Last time he visited, he was pretty calm and collected; he wasn’t really flirting, but he also wasn’t really not flirting. Little things here and there made Dino wonder if Junhui really liked Minghao. But this week basically confirmed it. Who the hell forgets how to talk about one of their random classmates? No, Junhui probably liked Minghao.
Buuuuuut, Minghao definitely would not want to see Junhui right now. Dino had to stick to his plan: he had to get Junhui out of here ASAP so that he could avoid another catastrophe.
“O… kay,” Dino slowly enunciated, confusion spilling out into his voice. “So you had some questions?”
“Oh, um, yeah! I actually have a list.”
Dino watched as Junhui pulled out a neatly-folded piece of paper from his pocket and started unfolding it. He could feel his soul leaving his body as Junhui kept unfolding it and unfolding it until it was a full-sized lined piece of notebook paper with Junhui’s neat and tiny handwriting filling up each line with questions. Lilli kept trying to get Junhui’s attention, resting her front paws on his shins while her hind paws were on the ground. Junhui finally acquiesced, picking her up with his free hand.
“Um…” Dino demurred.
“Oh, uh, these aren’t all questions!” Junhui replied, laughing a little at Dino’s shocked response. “I have some other random notes here. Mostly because Lilli here is so… special.”
Of course he had a list. Of course Minghao would fall for the cute studious boy who makes disorganized lists and has a lilt in his voice. It all was starting to make sense now.
“Um, I can really just wait for Minghao if you want? It’s no big deal.”
Apparently Dino hadn’t changed his expression at all. “No, um, I can just answer your questions quickly? Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.”
Before Dino could mentally (and maybe physically) facepalm at himself for stupidly thinking out loud, a loud shriek cut through the building.
“OW!”
Oh shit, that was definitely Minghao’s voice, and it definitely came from the examination room.
“Is Minghao alright?” Junhui asked, putting Lilli down.
“Um, I’m sure he’s fine,” Dino answered, looking back toward the examination room. “He probably just hurt himself, he’s good at doing that.”
“Oh.” Junhui had this fond smile plastered on his face, the smile he usually had when he was looking at Lilli. Shit, did he make Junhui like Minghao even more?
Before Dino could even begin to answer Junhui’s first question, the door to the examination room burst open. Seungkwan and Hansol led the way with Hansol carrying the small pet carrier again. The first thing he heard, though, was Minghao’s shrill, nasally voice, which was really goddamn loud.
“I can’t believe their chinchilla bit me!”
Oh, so Minghao didn’t actually hurt himself this time.
“Seungkwannie, can chinchillas get diseases from humans?” Hansol quietly asked his boyfriend, who seemed frustrated with the whole ordeal.
“How am I supposed to know, Hansol? I’m studying to be a human doctor -- do you really think I have time for veterinary classes on top of Advanced Organic Chemistry, Physical Inorganic Chemistry, Ethics and Medicine, and Cell Biology for Pre-Medical Majors? Not to mention all the time I have to spend shadowing doctors and volunteering at hospitals and doing non-acaedmic extracurriculars.”
“I know you’re very busy, babe,” Hansol softly responded. “I was just asking because you’re so smart.”
God, Dino wanted to gag so badly right now.
Meanwhile, Seungkwan smiled ever-so-slightly, his chronically stressed facial features softening a bit. “We should just wait for the vet like Dokyeom said. I’m sure Buttercup will be okay til then.”
“Seungkwan?” Junhui piped up. “What -- I’m so confused. How did you beat me here?”
“Oh hey Junhui. My beau drove us here,” Seungkwan replied, looking up at his boyfriend fondly.
“No, you’re my Boo,” Hansol added, not missing a beat.
Dino actually started gagging this time, earning a mixture of concerned and annoyed looks from the small audience that was gathering in the front. Dino felt bad, but their PDA was just so… gross . Nothing like the soft flirty heart eyes Minghao made for Junhui a few weeks ago.
“Oh it’s nice to meet you,” Junhui answered after Dino was done externally dying. To be perfectly clear, he was still internally dying.
“Oh, yeah!” Seungkwan jumped in. “Hansol, this is Jun. Jun, this is Hansol, my boyfriend.”
“Like we couldn’t tell,” Dino butted in, earning a dark look from Seungkwan. Hansol nodded at Junhui while Junhui smiled.
“And this is Lilli!” Junhui added, motioning toward his puppy.
Hansol nodded again, seemingly not impressed by the literal ball of cuteness standing next to Junhui.
“I’m sorry, he’s scared of dogs,” Seungkwan explained.
“Oh.” Junhui seemed a little disappointed by that, and, honestly, Dino was too: who doesn’t like dogs? “Um, random question, but is Minghao back there?”
“Yeah,” Hansol answered. “You know Minghao?”
Junhui seemed a little taken aback by that totally normal question. “Um, well, yeah, you see, w-we’re--”
“--Oh my god, you like him,” Seungkwan interrupted, a big smile forming on his face.
In some far off universe, Dino was internally regretting everything in life right now. He could see this slow-motion trainwreck happening from a mile away.
“Jun’s in loooooove ,” Seungkwan teased, causing Junhui’s cheeks to turn a rosy pink. “Beau, we should go so that Junhui can have some alone time with his boyfriend.”
Hansol frowned. “You’re my boo.”
“What am I? Chopped liver?” Dino interjected.
Seungkwan groaned in response. “C’mon Hansol, let’s take Buttercup home. Besides, I’ve got to study for my four exams next week. And drink my sixth cup of coffee for the day. Unlike some people here, I actually have to know what a liver looks like.”
Seungkwan and Hansol headed for the exit. Lilli barked at Buttercup’s pet carrier while Hansol walked by with it in hand. Seungkwan made a supremely annoyed face at Lilli. Hansol looked back at Dino and mouthed ‘sorry’ at him. Junhui awkwardly waved bye, though Seungkwan was having none of it. Seungkwan and Hansol left. And Minghao finally stepped out of the back room, stopping in his tracks as soon as he noticed Junhui. Dino actually threw his face into his palms this time -- this was such a mess. Everything was happening so fast.
“What are you doing here?” Minghao pointedly asked Junhui, a whole lot of venom in his tone falling on the ‘you’ part of that question. In fact, his voice had done a complete 180 from earlier; instead of being soft-spoken and quiet, Minghao’s voice was lower and a little gravelly. Like he too was extremely fed up with this situation. Dino finally removed his face from his hands and looked over at Junhui, who was still blushing pretty profusely. He seemed legitimately surprised by Minghao’s question.
“Well, um, I was just in the neighborhood, and, um, I had a few questions about, well, puppy training and…”
Junhui’s soft voice got quieter and quieter until it disappeared altogether, the honeyed lisp dying under Minghao’s intense gaze. There was absolutely nothing Dino could do now other than watch the impending fireworks. Minghao was royally upset.
“Wow, your hair’s blonde…” Junhui whispered. Dino looked back at Minghao, who was still parked next to the examination room doorway. He seemed even more peeved by Junhui’s comment, full-on glaring at Junhui. Dino looked over at Junhui, who was now looking away.
Before anybody could say anything, Dino felt someone roughly grab onto his shoulder and yank him back toward the lounge.
“Dino and I have something to take care of in the back,” Dokyeom quickly commented, dragging a limp Dino back toward the mini-table in the lounge. Dino was able to catch a glance of Minghao before disappearing from the front altogether; he couldn’t care less about Dokyeom or Dino. His focus was entirely on Junhui.
Once they were out of earshot of the front, Dino looked over at Dokyeom, who was washing his hands.
“Why did you pull me out of there? ” Dino whispered. “What if something happens between them? ”
Dokyeom sighed. “Dino, there’s literally nothing you can do to stop what’s about to happen.”
Dino frowned in response. He was being a petulant child, but he wanted to know what was happening out there.
“If you stop talking, you can still hear what they’re saying,” Dokyeom added, his low voice barely making it to Dino. Dokyeom took a seat opposite of Dino, clearly interested in what Minghao and Junhui were about to say in the other room. Dino shook his head and listened in too.
“Why didn’t you ask Dino for help then?” Minghao asked Junhui.
“I did! We just, um, didn’t--”
“--Why are you even here? Was Google not good enough for you?”
A long pause broke out between them. Dino stopped breathing, trying to focus on hearing Junhui’s soft voice.
“I, um, actually wanted to talk to you,” Junhui replied, his voice barely audible from where Dino and Dokyeom were seated in the lounge.
“Isn’t that what your boyfriend is for, Junhui?” Minghao clapped back.
“W-what?”
“Why don’t you go talk to Soonyoung,” Minghao repeated, mocking Junhui’s assertion that they were just talking. “You know, while you’re cuddling with him in bed.”
“M-minghao, you’ve got it all wrong.”
“Oh? Do you guys save the bed for fucking?”
“No, Minghao!” Junhui sounded extra flustered, even from the other room. “Soonyoung isn’t my boyfriend!”
“Oh? So you’re just friends with benefits? Great. Just wonderful.”
“No, we’re not anything! We’re just roommates, I swear.”
“It doesn’t even matter!” Minghao shouted, his voice loud and aggressive. Dino could hear Minghao storming out the back door, his footsteps getting quieter and quieter. When the door clicked shut, Dino slowly got out of his seat and quietly walked to the front.
Junhui was still standing there, but he looked really distraught. He wasn’t angry -- he was upset. Like he was about to cry. Lilli was still jumping up on him and trying to get his attention, but Junhui was too messed up right now to notice. However, he did hear Dino stop near the front desk, his head shooting up and eyes widening when he realized that Dino was still there. There was an awkward silence between them; Dino had no idea what to say.
“Dino, I need to go talk to him. I need to explain everything. He needs to know.”
Junhui was talking really fast; he was frazzled, but motivated to make this right.
“I, um--”
“--Dino, tell me where he lives. Please. I need to go find him and explain everything.”
Oh no.
“Please, Dino, please. Which dorm does he live in?”
“You -- You didn’t know?”
“Know what?”
“Jun. Minghao’s homeless.”
Junhui just stared back at him, apparently in shock.
“He lives in a homeless shelter.”
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PROJECT// NARRATIVE- Developing a Narrative and Digital Printmaking
The rules stated in the brief regarding a final narrative were that you must use the fellow student and kitchen implement you drew in the beginning stages of the project, as well as the location you chose for the task over Christmas. The meant that I started off with my friend Anoushka, a spoon, and my local woodland.
During the group narrative task (see previous post), I had enjoyed playing with more the fantastical elements in the story, as well as thinking about including hybrid characters I had created during the ‘Assembly’ project. During the group task I doodled the following fish/human character as a development from the ‘Assembly’ bird with legs I had made earlier in the term.
I had also gone in a whimsical direction with my location- using bright purples for my 3D model, and integrating strange faces into the trees in my sketches. With these things in mind, I came up with my narrative quite organically. I connected the fantasy location and strange fish character to my spoon and girl character by having her dig her way into a fairy tunnel and accidents turn herself into half a fish by touching some strange water.
With this narrative, I have included all three elements required in the story in a cohesive way, the narrative has an arc with a surprise for the viewer to keep them engaged as well as being interesting for me to create as well as for the audience to see.
I created a storyboard plan for the final pieces. Originally I only wanted to do six prints. I made notes on expression and clarity of intention to make sure that the narrative would be clear to a viewer how previously had no experience of it.
At this point a started seriously considering what medium I would use to make my prints. The brief stated the use of digital or physical printmaking. My initial instinct was to go straight for etching as it would give me the ability to impart the amount of detail I wanted, as well as atmospheric effects. However it quickly became clear that I wouldn’t have the time to prepare six to eight plates, draw on them, etch them and then print them in time to the standard I keep myself to.
I then moved onto considering Lino relief printing. It seemed like a good alternative to etching. I could still get a certain level of detail but with much less preparation of the plates. I bought all of the equipment, however quickly hit a brick wall with it. I was running out of time and had to review the possibilities.
Pros to using Lino for this project-
That physical printmaking ‘charm’
Happy accidents of small uncut pieces of Lino adding texture and feeling
Gain experience in the process
Cons to using Lino for this project-
It would take a long time- time I don’t really have- to carve out the Lino on six to eight different images
I’m inexperienced in the process which would make it take longer and give a less-than-perfect result for this final piece
I’m looking for a high level of detail for this project, which is possible for Lino printing but only through carving with very small tools with great care and accuracy. I don’t really have time for this
I would have to buy the tools for this fine carving
Clearly, Lino printing wasn’t really and option either for this project. This left me with digital printmaking as my only option as I hadn’t done the screen printing workshop yet. I am familiar with digital printing, and have the equipment to make a good job of it. However I really wanted to keep hold of the hand rendered charm of physical print work, so I kept that at the forefront of my mind as I worked.
I started off by making a larger sketch of the thumbnails I had drawn on my storyboard. I will be showing the process for just one image just so you can see the progression. In the final piece I made eight in total, so I repeated this eight times.
I decided that I wasn’t a fan of this more ‘realistic’ style- so re-drew this same sketch with a more cartoony edge to it. I then picked out a number of coloured penciled and hatched over the entire drawing, taking care to emphasise certain shapes and directions of shading. I would use this technique to inject some of that hand rendered magic into the final digital outcomes.
I photographed this image and put it into photoshop. In photoshop I then used the lasso tool to draw around and isolate different sections of the drawing that would be different colours, for example the hair. I then used the hue/saturation tool to change the colour of my pencil marks to one that better complemented the colours of that section. Then I used the colour balance tool to give the whole selection a colour. The colour balance tool only allows you to put bright colours and is effected by colours already existing in the selection, so this helped me to avoid that digital ‘smoothness’. I got the following effect- (using a different image because it was the only on I had that wasn’t flattened into JPEG)
In then used a pencil textured brush to add details and to complete the piece
I was very pleased with the ‘hand-drawn’ effect I managed to successfully add to my images. It was something I had never attempted before, but looking at these results I think I will continue to use this technique in the future.
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The Cupboard Game pt. 8
AU in which Splinter evaded the contents of the mutagen canister and ended up raising the turtles as a human.
No real warnings apply. Mostly family fluff/action-adventure with a teeny hint of angst.
(Also available on A03: http://archiveofourown.org/works/10471893/chapters/24531270)
It was close to midnight when Splinter lost sight of the car and his sons, the sweaty and wet note still crumpled in his fist as he stumbled back into his apartment.
With the rain gone and an uneasy silence prevailing in the empty apartment he wandered aimlessly around his wrecked home, moving in circles through all the keepsakes and workbooks dumped heartlessly out onto the ground. Some desperate side of Splinter’s psyche insisted that this wasn’t truly happening, that the face in the window was a trick of the darkness and the pounding on the trunk was his imagination, this was all a dream… a nightmare… and in time the turtles would pop out of hiding like just like always.
His knuckles rapped on the wall.
Shave-and-a-hair-cut, two-bits
Any second now.
Shave-and-a-hair-cut two-bits. Shave-and-a-hair-cut…
Any second now they'd be stumbling out of the closet, out from under the bed, springing from the scattered debris.
Shave-and-a-hair-cut two-bits. Shave-and-a-hair-cut two-bits. Shave-and-a-hair-cut two-bits.
He was slumped on the floor, tears streaming down his face, his fist knocking a few more weak rhythms into the wall as a sob welled up within him and gnawed at his cracked ribs with teeth of needles and broken glass.
The next thing Splinter knew he was standing in front of a checkout counter at the nearest corner store. Two bottles, one of painkillers and one of scotch, sat in front of him. He didn’t meet the eyes of the woman at the register, his gaze fixed to his own bruised and filthy hands working desperately to free the bills and the change from the confines of his soaked clothes. Coins fell on the floor and sang like falling bullet shells, and somewhere between muttering an apology and wincing as he bent down to pick up the change the brown paper bag was gently placed in his arms. He was reassured that the 28 cents change wasn’t necessary, and muttering something that was meant to be a ‘thank you’ Splinter trudged back home.
He told himself that the alcohol was to help him sleep. He needed to sleep, he needed to dull the pain beating relentlessly at his chest and get some rest.
But mostly, if he was to be honest with himself, he needed to forget.
He needed to forget how he had come so close to saving them just to fall short at the last second, that they were in arms reach only for him to drop his guard in the end. He had to forget that no matter what he did, what he said, the chances of his children getting out of this situation alive were horribly, horribly low.
He was going to lose his family all over again. His children were going to die, and it was all his fault.
The bottle was open and had almost made it to his lips when Splinter recalled nights only a few years ago, after the death of his first family and before the turtles came into his life. It didn’t take much to make him tipsy, and before he knew it he’d wake up hours later in the park with no recollection of how he got there or how much time had passed.
The threat of somehow sleeping through the next thirteen hours only to wake after Visioso’s appointed time, drunk dizzy and incapacitated, was too real and visceral.
In the end anxiety overcame desperation and the scotch was dumped down the kitchen sink, the painkillers taken with tap water.
He moved from the kitchen to the living area where he put away unearthed photos and toys, he wandered from the living area to the bed where sleep continued to elude him, then from the bed to the restroom where he came to the conclusion that a shower was probably the best idea. His clothes peeled off of him like the skin of a rotten fruit and the warm water washed the residue from his skin, revealing a constellation of purple and blue splotches along his arms and torso. He sat on the shower floor, forehead pressed against his knees, a fresh crying spell pricking at the large black spot in his chest that had born the brunt of the vehicle’s impact. The shed tears and the gentle patter of warm water gently lulled him into a few small spurts of restless sleep, until the hot water ran out and the downpour of cold water reminded Splinter far too much of the sensation of rain.
Climbing out of the shower, drying off and putting on some fresh clothes, his mind clung to the thought of rain.
He didn’t like fighting, not like he used to when he was a boy, but reflecting on his battles in the downpour he considered old lessons from his father… lessons that had kept him hidden and safe for most of his journey.
Standing in the middle of the living area he struck out at the air, envisioning the right pressure points, going over some of the more extensive lessons in his mind, the words of his father coaching him on the fastest methods of bringing a man down.
It gave him a sense of comfort, a sense of control.
So he beat patterns into the surrounding darkness, rhythmic and precise, the burning ache of his shallow breaths slowly mellowing out as he delved deeper and deeper into focus, reserved kiais leaving his lips as he fought back massless phantoms until the sun rose, filling the apartment with a gentle golden light, and a strange sense that perhaps... just perhaps... things weren’t quite as hopeless as they appeared to be.
“I toldja we shouldn’t have climbed that rope!”
“Will you shhh!”
Raphael gave his elder brother a sharp shove in response to the fifth repeat of the same criticism he had heard since they were locked in the trunk of that car. They were all still muddy with grit and garbage, the long wait for their father having rendered them both cold and desperate, easily lured by the appearance of a way out despite the suspicious silence that had accompanied it. In the midst of the exchange of blame all four turtles huddled close together after being transferred from the trunk to a cage, desperate for both warmth and reassurance. Mikey had stopped openly sobbing only a few minutes ago, now only emitting small sniffles as their barred cell was placed on a food cart and draped over with a blanket.
The turtles held each other close as they sensed the atmosphere take a dire turn as they were wheeled through a set of double doors, light Italian music and the smell of pasta filtering through the blanket blocking their view.
Don Visioso looked up from his banquet, fat face curving into a smile as he saw The Fulci Twins pulling a cart right up next to his table.
“Ah, so you brought me what I ordered?”
“Four courses of The Splinter’s big secret, just as you asked”
One of the twins gripped the blanket, yanking it away from the cage with a wide dramatic motion. Mikey and Donnie kept behind their two older siblings, who stared defiantly at the hideous overweight monster peering at them.
Don Visioso dropped his spoon into his soup and stared wide-eyed. His chair hovered just a few inches closer to the four trapped creatures, a look of disbelief marking his sluggish sunken features
“Well I’ll be…”
He reached out as if to touch them through the bars. Raphael bared his teeth, and the pudgy outstretched hand withdrew as Visioso thought better of it.
“You sure Takada will come for these… weird lil’ turtle freaks?”
“Hammer said the guy was talkin’ to em,’ that the look on ‘is face was priceless when he found out they’d been taken” one of the twins explained “Vinnie and Marco’s findings match up too, seems like he was housing em’ or somethin’… like… some sort of mutant children from the black lagoon’”
While his brother talked the second twin delivered a pile of snapshots to Visioso’s table. The images of preschool-level homework and toys could’ve easily been explained away, but then The Don came to the images of child’s drawings and coloring books riddled with little crayon doodles of bipedal turtles that didn’t make much sense outside of context.
While Visioso examined the evidence with the twins peering over his shoulder, Michelangelo found his attentions drawn to something that pulled him out of his crying fit and suitably distracted him from the matter at hand: the dinner table.
It was long past breakfast time, and the youngest had never seen that much food before in his life. Salivating as he caught scent of the seasoned meat, the tot pressed against the side of the cage and reached his tiny arms through the bars, straining to lay hold of one of the many platters of food... so close and yet so tantalizingly far from his reach.
Leonardo felt the cage shift beneath him as the youngest pressed against it, and while Mikey saw the food Leonardo found his attentions drawn to a steak knife on the table just a short distance away.
The padlock was firm, but the bars were fairly flimsy. He figured if they could just lay hold of that knife perhaps he could saw through and get to freedom.
Leonardo nudged Raph and whispered his plan into the turtle’s ear. Raph nudged Donnie in turn and passed the plan along, and after they checked to ensure their captors were still distracted all four turtles began shifting to try and push the cage as close to the table as possible.
Unfortunately it was not a silent endeavor. Pulled from the discussion by the sound of squeaking metal hinges, Visioso looked up just in time to see the smallest of the turtles furiously ripping bits and pieces from a rotisserie chicken through the bars, the tallest of the four straining to reach past the food and take hold of a jagged knife.
The twins were quick to act, plucking the cage away from the table just as Donatello’s fingertips brushed the silver handle only a few seconds short of getting a decent grip.
“Clever lil monsters ain’t they?” their captor remarked, giving the cage a shake before slamming it back down on the food cart, which had now been pushed back a safe distance away from the table. Mikey scrambled to keep his hold on the greasy pieces of stolen chicken while Leonardo, in his frustration, leapt to the front of the bars in a confrontational manner.
“What do you want with us you big ugly jerk!?”
“Holy moly, it can talk too!” Visioso exclaimed, apparently far more taken aback by that simple fact than the audacity of the childish insult “Heh, Daiki teach ya’ how to do that?”
“He’s gonna kick your butt y’know!” Raph growled, ignoring the question in favor of making threats “So y’better let us go before Papa finds out!”
“‘Papa’ huh?”
That was the final clue Visioso needed.
He chuckled and snapped his fingers, gaining the attentions of the twins.
“Send out word that The Splinter is comin’ in for one final round” He announced “Five hundred thousand cash in store for whoever beats ‘im. Purple Dragons, common thieves, assassins fer hire, everybody gets a shot at this guy.”
“Half a million?” one of The Fulci Twins asked “… you sure boss? s’awful big purse for just one guy.”
“Call it repaying the universe fer’ it’s generosity” Visioso replied, his gaze shifting away from his goons to settle upon the caged children “Besides, I’m sure just one of those little freaks could go fer' at least that much on the black market. Sell two to a laboratory, sell the other two as exotic pets to some drug kingpin, we’ll make a killing!”
Talk of being sold unsettled the children, for while Visioso’s manner of speaking was strange to them they could still tell what he was talking about. Donatello alone knew what the dictionary definition of a Kingpin was, but his brothers all instantly recognized the word ‘laboratory,’ as it had always been the looming boogieman that plagued every worst case scenario of what would happen should they leave the sanctity of the apartment. Frantic, they all began kicking against the bars in unison, shouting more demands for release and threats about what their dad was going to do once he came to their rescue. They received no answer, just one final smug glance before their shouts were faded by the blanket draped back over their cage and they were wheeled back out into the hallway.
Splinter couldn’t remember the last time he treated himself to something that wasn’t food or decent clothes, though to say that hand wraps and protective pads were a “treat” was inaccurate given the circumstances. He had come to the conclusion that the best way to pass the time was with self preparation… in both a mental and a physical sense… and now that hours of reflection and meditation had brought him past the brink of immobilizing panic gearing up seemed to be the next best thing to do.
He didn’t know what was waiting for him at the warehouse, but he knew that if it involved further combat then his ribs would be a notable weak point, and if there was one perk to being in New York it was that anything could be purchased immediately so long one knew where to look. A special armored vest guard designed for motorists could be hidden beneath a shirt and a coat, and as expensive as it was... money was not a concern at the moment.
According to the note he was only to bring Nezumi’s switchblade, but with old remembered lessons came teachings on carrying concealed weapons, and in the end Splinter felt carrying a bit of extra artillery was worth the risk. He purchased a set of throwing knives at the same sports shop where he bought some hand wraps, then took a bus to the outskirts of his destination.
He sat in a diner near the docks just across the street from the Newport Warehouse, beneath a big heavy coat hiding wrapped hands, hidden blades, and chest armor. He waited for the clock to approach eight, the sun was starting to set over the horizon and he attempted to find some satisfaction in the first meal he'd had all day. The Diner had become surprisingly rowdy though, a number of unsettling looking men and women trickling in and filling the surrounding chairs, most of them ordering alcohol as if this was a biker bar rather than a small mom and pop joint.
The waitress seemed used to it however, so Splinter kept his head down, kept his distance, listening in to their passing conversations as he waited calmly for the appointed time.
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Day 2: Bangkok… The Centre Eludes But The Skyline Trains Will Take You To Places.. Most Places – Just It seemed not the centre.
The question that remained to be answered – so how do you get from where we are, to where other stuff is? the more central set of sights that might come with the actual centre of a city such as this.
It was a question that was also actively being asked, though i wasn’t sure why. Not the question, it was a question that occupied my thoughts also, the asking though. I’d not been here before and knew as much as anyone else about the city and area in our group of two. I had not settled on an answer, it wasn’t clear that there was a clear answer. We were on the green train line, it was not going anywhere helpful, it intersected with a dark green line which went the wrong way (heading off unnecessarily south from a centre of town locating perspective) .. it also intersected with a light blue line that seemed to adopt a slightly more on point trajectory but ended at a place that seemed to come without onward connections.
It looked – unclear – a situation that seemed in itself an oddity – the main form of mass transport avoiding any thought of moving toward the centre.
Anyway the start of the day ought to mean the first visit to the favoured spot to see the morning in – that rather delightful if not overly large rood top pool.
Something had happened – the photo doesnt do justice to what had happened – the white parts failed to conceal in any way a number of messages. First – that they were at one time part of the short which had been white.. Second – that they (and by drawing attention their neighbouring blue parts) were no longer the tones and colours the manufacturer had intended .. The third and arguably more fundamental part – this change was not an act of sun or washing machine but some organic act of browning. Browning of the shorts is probably the most problematic of all the discolourations – especially when it has such an earthy and organic hue to it. A frenzied cleaning effort with shower gel and the shower could only salvage so much of the shorts dignity – still on the plus side if whatever it was wouldn’t come out under such duress and effort filled scrubbing it probably wouldn’t just sift away like an errant tea bag when adorned in the pool. All that remained was to hope that no audience existed to see and to form errant conclusions.
Away from the pool and back on efforts to escape the Hotel:
Trains that avoid the centre (art) – and they’re planning to stop providing paint with windows..!!
The trains had a dispersion pattern, as near as i was guessing the central part, the part with the characteristics of a big cities centre, was located somewhere within the red circle bit – i doodled it above because i had the time and inclination to do so some significant time after the fact. The train when to the green circles …
[Green Circle Number 1 – quite far to the south]
[Green Circle number 2 – not really connected to anywhere much] &
[Green Circle number 3 – so far north as to escapes being drawn on the map, by being too far out to make it onto the map]
Attempting Something With The Vaguely Familiar Trains :
We headed out, not really to discover the centre, more simply to get out and discover whatever it was that might reveal itself through the act of not being inside the hotel.
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Having wondered through some streets and not found food, we ended up at a Canal. There was what looked like a hair dressers or possibly a pedicure type place, only the workers were outside and on passing made manual interception efforts to gain custom.
This rendered it less clear for me that this was a hair dressers – not that this impacted overly, i had no interest in my dishevelled but already short hair being cut, no intention of having my nails moderated.. so all service offerings were equal and polite continuing on our way was achieved.
On the canal boats roared and splashed past, not small boats, reasonable sized boats clearly designed for passengers and travelling at times at fair old pace. Not as much pace as the noise and splashing might suggest but attention drawing none the less.
Photographs dont really do justice but there was a reason why the last of these was taken in a dull large roads underpass / beneath a sizeable bridge.. Shade. We were warm, hungry and despite leaving the hotel with very limited intentions we’d definitely walked a fair bit further than them. Heat and fatigue had set in, they were not unrelated. We were basically back around the corner of our hotel by the time we finally found food and it came with something more glorious even than the prospect of eating, it came with Aircon.
This thing above – its a lie .. the good thing about it, you know its a lie. We have been taught such thing well by any ready meal from any shop .. if it were to be shared by the people it suggested then aggressive untoward times would break out.
Pretty Welcome – Evidently Not Suitable For Sharing
Green line seems probable – further travel along the red line.. not clear (big reveal – turns out not)
Then there was the river, which clearly led the right way, assuming a correct interpretation of the pink bit (Rattanakosin) as being the centre. The trouble with these was no familiarity, how to find their stations, where did they actually go to, how do you pay for them … all things that were comfortable knowns with the BTS Skytrain..
For all the looking it appeared with the trains i had a problem, there was no one else about to help, so if i could find them, work out how to catch one and pay for the ride, maybe i could travel by canal boat ..
what did it say about this thought about where the central parts of town were, that this was also the one patch of city studiously avoided by the skyline train.. surely that raised some justifiable doubt about that base premise that sat behind these travel non-plans for the day.. maybe the centre was elsewhere, somewhere where the trains went.. A conclusion was needed or the day would evaporate in the midst of confounded map re-gazing and befuddled guide flicking.
It looked like there was some sort of stop near Ratchathewi station (one station along from where we were and where we had gone out for dinner the previous night) and that it should then go at least get me to a stop called Panfa Leelard, perhaps even further, it looked like the canal flowed on to the main river.. maybe the ferry would go all that way, i wasn’t clear.
Perhaps there was an advantage to reading up thoroughly on places in advance. We had those guidebooks we had been gifted and were always in tow, but even with the context of being in places, conclusions were not forthcoming… Advanced reading up on things, it seems like something that ought to work but doesnt seem too, though not convinced ive ever actually tried it.
With that uncertainty and lack of complete plan readied i opted simply to head out, with altered expectations about heat and distance.. i would put my head down that bit more and just go that bit further and then hopefully that bit further still, until such time as i arrived at somewhere. The good thing about being so close to a skyline train station was a taxi or a tuk tuk would always be able to return me to my point of origin, if other more exploratory efforts failed – safety net.
Maps of Bangkok
Wiki Bangkok maps
Some guided clips from the ferry canal boat – the narrator/host for this trip may well be a German man.
Bangkok – Sky Trains and attempting excursions Day 2: Bangkok... The Centre Eludes But The Skyline Trains Will Take You To Places.. Most Places - Just It seemed not the centre.
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Hanzos super dramatic edgy angsty diary entry vs mcree's goofy one + like, a shopping list or a note he jotted down for the same days entry. Also they have crushes on each other. I cant brain phasing for a writing prompt but it sounds cute
Hanzo kept a journal. It was a battered little book. Black, cream pages, unlined. It was filled with tidy rows of Japanese and messy lines of English, intermixed with folded papers, pressed flowers, and polaroid photographs.
... my heart plummeted like a comet when I realized that it was my own long-dead brother that was standing before me as firmly as a mountain. It was a reversal akin to looking in a mirror, where he is the stronger sibling sent to kill me in my moment of weakness, even as I mourned deeply for him and deeply honored his memory... was an excerpt from an earlier page. tucked needly inside that page was a boarding pass to Gibraltar, doodles on the back of a badly rendered dog, a poor likeness of a tree, and a sketch of a flanking plan for a three story house.
... in an hour of fragile weakness, I was convinced to come here by my damned conscience. Given where it has led me before, I should not have trusted it to lead me down this tumultuous path. Genji is more different than I ever could have guessed, which is largely my own fault, due to my vast oversight and negligence.....which is why I shall never trust that horrid, scrawny man to cook for me again. And yet all of this is not yet the worst part. The worst part of all the terrible things to happen to me is that damned cowman who insists upon pestering me, aggravating obnoxious... was a lengthy stretch of complaining, with several notes folded in.
Several small notes of welcome from various members, most notably his brother, but one in particular stood out.
Hey there! Welcome to the base! I heard from Genji you’re another sharpshooter I would love to get together with you sometime to run you through some of the training programs I’ve put together I think it would be a lot of fun especially from some of the stories Genji’s told me let me know if you’re interested! -JM
It was loopy writing, slightly cramped. There was a small smiley face beside the initials, right over an equally cramped xo. It was written on sunshine yellow stationary.
Several weeks forward there was another note: Thanks for making sure I got back okay last night next time we go out drinks are on me okay? Friday sound good? Let me know darl -JM
This was a page ahead of a rather mournful entry. I have never had a more horrendous hangover. I wish that I was not so utterly foolish to deliberately seek out the things that make me most miserable in life, but certainly nothing is more miserable than missing your morning run to kneel in front of the toilet. I feel utterly pathetic and defeated by mere alcohol. If I am remembering correctly, the bane of my existence is called tekilla. I shall not make these grievous mistakes again, no matter what that damn cowman says in a sad attempt to convince me otherwise.
A mere three pages later was a printed photo of Hanzo, Jesse, Lena, Hana, and Genji, all standing around a table, faces flushed and shots of tequila held high, a plate of limes and a half empty bottle of tequila in the center of the table.
Closer to the end of the journal were more bad doodles. Genji’s faceplate, one of Zenyatta’s orb, Jesse’s beloved hat that wasn’t too terrible, Soldier’s visor that was absolutely horrible. Shorter entries were more prevalent as well.
Another successful mission. Soba and Udon were happy to stretch their wings.
Solder 76 made a “proper American dinner” today. I suspect he used all of the butter on base. Mei is quite put out that there is none for her tea.
Jesse sheds like a dog. My bed is covered in his hair.
Today’s mission was successful, though barely.
I think Junkrat has fleas.
Jesse wore his boots without spurs today and managed to sneak up on Genji. He almost took out his hat.
With these shorter entries came more notes as well.
Ask Lucio about his new single. I think you’ll see he took some inspiration from you. Could be Gen, but I think it’s you. -JM
Dinner tonight? -JM
Remind me to get more butter tomorrow when we’re at the store. -JM
Found your hair ribbon in the locker room. Looks mighty fine on my hat. Come find me -JM
I think Junkrat has fleas?? -JM
Love ya darl -JS
#i tried to be hella overdramatic for hanzo how did i do#inspired by the girl from beetlejuice ngl#i feel like hanners is the type to be incredibly flowery n descriptive when he writes ya feel?#also i hope u wanted mchanzo bc THATS WHAT UR GETTING#rubs hands together#luv me that good mchanners content#in a written medium like this its hard to convey that they got crushes on each other but han is deffo the type that gets a crush n is like#WHAT IS THIS#THIS IS TERRIBLE#I HATE THIS AND EVERYTHING TO DO WITH IT#and jesse is just like wow need me some o' that xoxoxoxoxoxoxo#jesse needs to learn what a run-on sentence is and also learn how to not#overwatch#mchanzo#hanzo shimada#jesse mccree#mine#Anonymous
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